Nancy Pelosi dismissed the House of Representatives yesterday and the Democrats went home, but the Republicans stayed around today to protest that they weren’t given a vote on domestic offshore drilling. Now, I’m not sure the details, but Republican Texan Congressman John Culberson began using Twitter to update people on the goings on. Follow @JohnCulberson if you’re into that sort of thing. I believe @PeteHoekstra is a Representative as well.
A couple things -
- I don’t follow politics nearly as actively as I used to, but what good did this do besides be symbolic?
- Filibusters don’t end at 5 PM with a press conference.
- Awesome to see Twitter used as a communication tool directly between Representatives and their constituents.
- I’d LOVE to be able to hear directly from my Representatives and Senators like this. I wonder if I can write my reps and encourage them to get on Twitter?
Those are just some thoughts… Not sure what I think of the actions in D.C. on either side (I think we should have had a vote, but I don’t see the point of a publicity show like the GOP tried to pull off) – but I LOVE seeing Twitter used as a method of direct communication at least so we can know what people are working on.
We elect them – shouldn’t we have the option to easily find out about their day just like we find out about our friends’ days?
Colin
I have been cynical of Twitter and haven't signed up until yesterday. The whole congress thing (while surely a publicity stunt) was interesting and I was proud of them. It is sad that it has to come to this (A few standing up against the leadership who has been trying so hard to get to vacation without voting on MAJOR issues).
As for what happens next, I heard (haven't confirmed yet) that the OCS drilling ban expires in September. If that is true, then the Dems wanted to let it expire without having to vote on it (especially since Obama would HAVE to vote).
Technically, the President has the power to call congress back from recess to address an issue. So that could happen. His approval rating can only go up, what does he have to lose? Interrupt their vacations George!
I think it's a good idea to bring attention to it – I agree with you there. But we all know that 5 week vacations aren't going to be canceled – it doesn't happen. Not in congress. Not when suggested by the opposing party. People KNOW that doesn't happen.
I think it was sweet to see Twitter as the center of the communication – but I would love to see that full-time, not just when stuff like this comes up.
It was very interesting to see Microblogging used. I'm impressed by it – we need to see more of that.
Hey Colin, a bit of my tracking of the whole situation:
at circa 9:20 eastern time this morning, Rep. Culberson twittered "Liberal House leadership shutting down the House".
Twitters that followed said that they were discussing Drill Here, Drill Now on the floor of the House when according to Culberson " Pelosi has turned off the TV cameras and microphones to try to silence demand of maj of Americans to drill here drill now".
Finally he says " I am speaking now on the floor to the gallery and to you on Twitter demanding that Speaker Pelosi cancel vacation and vote to drill here now". The vacation he is referring to is a scheduled 5 week recess that the House was going to take.
I want to believe that this was a legitimate attempt to bring the public eye on this issue, but the cynical part of me says that because they knew vacation was immenent, the Republicans were able to turn this into a publicity event.
Either way, it will be interesting seeing the reaction of the House leadership to the live microblogging of events as they unfolded. Those twitters and a couple other assorted communiques were the only avenues of communication open today.