Blunt picks fight with chatty House Dems

Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is criticizing House Democratic leaders for doing what most politicians do best: talking.

Blunt has accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) of exploiting a longtime House custom that allows senior lawmakers extra time to speak on the House floor during important debates.

{mosads}“In recent months … this privilege has been used not for the rarest of circumstances, but with great frequency,” Blunt wrote in a letter sent to Pelosi and Hoyer on Oct. 23. “It is my hope that this rare courtesy is restored to its original intent in accordance with the customs of the House.”

Blunt specifically cited their speeches on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), during which Hoyer and Pelosi clocked nearly 30 minutes between them. The rule governing the debate had stipulated a half-hour for each side of the aisle.

“The notes of the Parliamentarian do not anticipate the comparatively ‘limitless’ time now used by the Majority nor the frequency of its use,” Blunt wrote.

Not only is it a break from tradition, but Republican aides argued that the lengthy speeches waste the time of lawmakers who show up for a vote thinking that there is only five minutes left in the debate.

A Hoyer aide dismissed the criticism. “With no agenda, a cascade of retirements [and] abysmal fundraising, it is no surprise that Rep. Blunt feels the need to waste time on political exercises to keep his conference happy,” the aide said.

A glance through The Congressional Record of some of the more important votes of the Republican Congress shows that leaders rarely came close to the 2,491-word SCHIP speech Pelosi delivered last week. Hoyer used 1,543 words during his remarks, whereas Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) limited his comments to just under 800 words.

A cursory survey also finds that Democrats are more loquacious than their Republican counterparts. Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), never one to use many words at all, tallied slightly over 1,000 words at the close of debate over the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug Bill. During the same debate Pelosi, then the minority leader, uttered 1,677 words against the bill.

The privilege of awarding prolonged speaking times is extended exclusively to the Speaker and the majority and minority leaders, and is to be used “during important debate,” according to House rules. Blunt wrote that the practice began in the Civil War era, when the Speaker rarely came to the floor.

Republican aides said Pelosi’s and Hoyer’s chattiness is a drastic contrast from Hastert and former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who infrequently used the privilege. DeLay never held his tongue, however, and was well-known for sharp and pithy turns of phrase that drove Democrats wild.

One Republican aide said the practice has becomes a problem since both Hoyer and Pelosi insist on taking the podium for an extended period of time.

“It’s like they are trying to out-talk each other,” the aide added.

The aide suggested Democrats could even out the talking time by extending this privilege to an additional Republican member of leadership but conceded they had not reached out to Democrats with that proposal.

A spokesman for Blunt said they had not yet received a response from Pelosi or Hoyer.