The health care debate got personal and politically heated on the floor of the U.S. House, as two retiring Democrats from Tennessee denied charges of that their votes were being bought in exchange for high level jobs outside Congress.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) raised the subject on the House floor, repeating allegations raised on the internet that Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Rep. John Tanner (D-TN) were engaged in vote buying, switching to 'Yes' on health care reform in order to get plum jobs after they leave the Congress.
Gordon, who heads the House Science Committee, has been linked to the job of NASA Administrator, even though that job is already filled.
Tanner has been tied to a NATO job in Brussels, Belgium.
After hearing the charge, Gordon came to the House floor to confront Chaffetz directly, all of this during debate on a bill that had nothing to do with health care reform.
"If it (NASA chief) was offered to me, I would not accept," Gordon said. "My wife has said 26 years of public service is enough."
Gordon yielded to Chaffetz in anticipation of an apology, a move that left the normally aggressive Chaffetz searching for a response.
"I have nothing to say," Chaffetz said in a barely audible response.
Later on Friday afternoon, Tanner came to the House floor and denounced the charges from Chaffetz as "reckless".
"To take an unsubstantiated, untrue, total fabrication and to repeat it on this floor in my judgment is an affront to this institution," said Tanner.
As for the NATO job rumor, Tanner didn't mince any words.
"I wouldn't get on a plane and go to Brussels to live if they offered it to me," said Tanner, who told the House that he and his wife want to live full time in Tennessee to enjoy their four grandchildren.
Tanner said he had talked to the Parliamentarian about the possibiliy of punishing Chaffetz, what's called "taking words down", but was told the objection had to be raised immediately, which is used when members make excessively personal attacks.
The punishment is that the member who engages in such improper behavior is not being allowed to speak on the House floor for the rest of that day.
I have seen lots of those verbal spats over the years, but maybe the one that stands out the most was in May of 1984, when Rep. Newt Gingrich got under the skin of Speaker Tip O'Neill.
O'Neill bitterly attacked Gingrich in a floor speech, and the Speaker had his words "taken down" - the first time a Speaker had been so punished since 1798.
It won't surprise me if we have a verbal flare up on Sunday. Stay tuned.
The health care debate got personal and politically heated on the floor of the U.S. House, as two retiring Democrats from Tennessee denied charges of that their votes were being bought in exchange for high level jobs outside Congress. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) raised the subject on the House floor, ...
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