UPDATE: According to the Washington Post’s 44 blog, the resolution honoring the Terps passed the House today, but an astounding 132 members – all but two of them Republicans – voted against it. Symbolic bills like this one generally pass without opposition. Hoyer’s office told the Post this was another example of Republican obstructionism:
“Republicans are staying true to their ‘Party of No’ doctrine: Whether it’s health care, job creation, or basketball, Republicans aren’t for anything,” said Hoyer spokeswoman Stephanie Lundberg.
U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) doesn’t Fear the Turtle.
U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.)
Yesterday, a resolution sponsored by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a university alumnus who represents College Park, was scheduled to be heard on the House floor. The bill would have honored the Terp men’s basketball team for having the ACC Player of the Year in Greivis Vasquez, ACC Coach of the Year in Gary Williams, for co-winning the ACC regular season title and for making the NCAA tournament.
Resolutions honoring athletic accomplishments by constituents are heard all the time on the House floor, and they are generally passed without much controversy. These bills are generally heard and passed under what’s called “suspension of the rules,” which limits the amount of debate that can be heard on them and allows them to pass via voice vote instead of a formal roll call vote. However, any member of congress can gum up the works by calling for a roll call vote.
That’s what Campbell did, preventing the Terps from formally being honored by the U.S. House. Why would a congressman from California prevent the Terps from being honored? Perhaps lingering bitterness about the Terps’ smackdown of the Cal Golden Bears in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament? Nope.
Last October, the University of California-Irvine men’s volleyball team won the national championship. Campbell sponsored a resolution honoring them. But, due to what The Orange County Register says was Campbell’s refusal to support a water project U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) wanted, Hoyer pulled that resolution from the house floor.
So Campbell got his payback. But he had to go further. He first complained that unlike the fearsome Anteaters (yes, that’s their nickname) of UC-Irvine, the Terps merely had qualified for the “playoffs.” (Who calls the NCAA tournament the playoffs?) He asked where resolutions honoring the other 64 teams in the tournament were.
In all fairness, they do make the Anteater look pretty fierce.
And just to really dig in the dagger, he pointed to a study highlighted by The Washington Post claiming the Terps have the lowest graduation rate of any team in the field of 65. Let’s hope he and Gary Williams never run into each other. Things could get ugly.
Campbell’s objection forced the House to delay voting on the measure. But being the alma mater of the majority leader has its benefits. According to the schedule posted on Hoyer’s website, a vote on the resolution could happen as soon as today.
[...] statement sounds a strange, and it comes on the heels of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s surprisingly controversial attempt to honor Williams, Greivis Vasquez and the team with a resolution in Congress this [...]