Last night we brought you breaking news that the congresswoman from Rush Limbaugh’s hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Jo Ann Emerson had hopped into the Shays Handful, coming out against the DeLay Rule.
But apparently not to the Bugman’s face!
From this <$NoAd$> morning’s update in the Southeast Missourian …
The lawmakers, after hours of debate, adopted a revised rule that would require members of Congress to step down from leadership posts only if convicted of crimes.
“We debated that for three hours at least,” Emerson said. The caucus was attended by more than 250 GOP lawmakers.
Emerson was out of the room when the vote was taken. The Southeast Missouri congresswoman said several lawmakers were out of the room when the party leadership suddenly called for a voice vote on the issue.
The 8th District lawmaker said she had stepped out of the room to meet briefly with Southeast Missouri civic leaders to discuss U.S. 67 road improvements.
“I was only out of the room for 10 minutes, maybe,” she said.
When she returned, Emerson discovered that a voice vote had been taken.
While there wasn’t a roll call vote, Emerson said that “at least a couple dozen” of her GOP House colleagues opposed the rule change.
The decision might have been different if the issue had been decided by secret ballot rather than voice vote, Emerson said.
She bugged out.
