From The Washington Post, 9/8/06:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701343.html
"The horses are part of the history of this nation, and the West would
never have been settled if it weren't for the horses," declared Rep.
Walter Jones (R-N.C.) in support of the horsemeat ban.

From The Washington Post, 9/8/06:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701343.html

Down the Homestretch, the House Wanders Off Course

By Dana Milbank


Let us stipulate, as the lawyers like to say, that horses should not
be slaughtered for human consumption.

Let us further stipulate that there is nothing inherently offensive
about minting coins to commemorate the bicentennial of Abraham
Lincoln's birth.

Still, the question arises:

What are House Republicans thinking?

Returning from a five-week summer vacation, GOP lawmakers have much to
worry about:

war in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism and border problems, high
energy prices and health-care costs, and none of the federal
government's annual spending bills enacted.

So what did House leaders decide to make the centerpiece of the week?

H.R. 503: the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

This legislation, passed yesterday, followed Wednesday's action on a
full slate of bills including H.R. 2808, the Abraham Lincoln
Commemorative Coin Act.

And to think that Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their majority
in the House.

Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), setting the pace for yesterday's
debate, was champing at the bit.

Holding a poster of a horse's bloody head in the well, he proclaimed:

"What we are exposing today is a brutal, shadowy, shameful, predatory
practice that borders on the perverse."

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was equally hot-to-trot in support of horse
slaughtering.

"These horses are eating our cellulose and costing us ethanol," he
countered.

The debate -- lasting nearly four hours while horse lover Bo Derek
watched from the gallery -- quickly degenerated into dueling
expressions of equestrian love.

"The horses are part of the history of this nation, and the West would
never have been settled if it weren't for the horses," declared Rep.
Walter Jones (R-N.C.) in support of the horsemeat ban.

Whoa, answered pro-slaughter Rep. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) "My horse
Skychief Poco and I won the 1997 SandHills Rodeo and quarter horse
shows team penning championship."

Democrats enjoyed all the whinnying.

"I'm for the horsies, too; I'll vote for it," allowed Rep. Zoe Lofgren
(D-Calif.).

But what about Iraq, energy, health care and the federal debt?

"I can't believe that we are here today using the very limited time
left to this Congress to deal with horsemeat," she said.

Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), meeting privately with
colleagues in the morning, referred to the legislation as "the horse
[expletive] bill," according to someone present at the meeting.

Even Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), who as Rules Committee chairman
helped to jockey the horse bill to the floor, was a bit sheepish about
trotting out the legislation.

The work of Rep. John Sweeney (R-Saratoga Race Course), it would
effectively close the three U.S.-based slaughterhouses that produce
horsemeat for human consumption in Europe and Asia.

"When you've got Bo Derek twisting your arm, what can you say?" Dreier
rationalized, noting that the actress visited the Republican breakfast
caucus before the debate.

The chairman, in a brief interview off the House floor, tried to rein
in the story:

"This will be old news as of tomorrow."

Even before the horse bill, House leaders had been a bit sensitive
about their legislative pace.

The People's Representatives have been in session for all of 80 days
this year, and with 15 days remaining on the legislative calendar, the
House is on pace to shatter all records for inactivity.

The "Do-Nothing" House of 1948 was positively frenetic by comparison,
passing 1,191 measures in 110 days in session.

The current House has passed barely 400 measures, including this
week's lineup of legislative priorities:

H. Res. 912, "Supporting the goals and ideals of National Life
Insurance Awareness Month" and H. Res. 605, "Recognizing the life of
Preston Robert Tisch and his outstanding contributions to New York
City, the New York Giants Football Club, the National Football League,
and the United States."

By yesterday, when the House devoted itself to equine slaughter, even
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the dead-serious House minority leader, was
ready for a bit of horseplay.

"And we can't even get out of the gate with any good legislation!" she
observed as she headed to the speaker's office for a meeting.

____________________________________________________

Boggles the mind, eh?

Harry