An interesting request by Republican Leader John Boehner (OH) to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA): the final health care votes be recorded by “call of the roll” so that every lawmaker is required to publicly announce their vote on the House floor.
“This weekend’s votes will be among the most consequential votes we will ever cast as Members of Congress,” Boehner says in the letter to Speaker Pelosi. “As such, it is my belief that every Member should stand before the American people and announce his or her vote as the final decision is made.”
Sometimes I look at this back and forth as grandstanding…but, in this case, I think the request has merit.
When you look at the Declaration of Independence, you see each Continental Congressmen’s “John Hancock”, so to speak. This vote, which impact 1/6 of our national economy, creates an entitlement as large, if not larger, than Social Security and Medicare, and is changing precedent on how a bill becomes a law, probably deserves a “call of the roll.”
This vote is the most important in American history in our generation, we deserve to know how our Congressman voted – and in their own voice – for posterity.
