PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
That day I became a Democratic stooge :: 06/29/2016
WASHINGTON – The House Democrats' anti-gun sit-in last week included one of the more embarrassing moments of my journalism career.
The Democrats had grabbed the House floor for what amounted to an impromptu 25-hour filibuster to protest the unwillingness of Republican leadership to call a vote on gun control legislation.
This was a new and unusual tactic, and nobody had any idea how it was going to end. The House doesn't have a filibuster, so it also doesn't have a way to end one. That makes it newsworthy.
As the protest dragged on through the day Wednesday, the rows of stools in the press gallery — up above the House floor — usually nearly empty during House business, had become full. This had become a full-blown Event, and more than two dozen reporters sat in the gallery documenting it.
At around 9 p.m., as they were girding for House Republicans to return and attempt to re-establish control of the floor, the Democrats were pumping up their energy. They congratulated each other and cheered. The partisans who had packed the public visitors' gallery cheered with them — a no-no when the House is in session. Visitors are supposed to sit quietly, but by this hour many of the rules of the House floor had long since been thrown out the window.
The lawmakers then turned to the galleries and thanked the visitors for their support, and everybody cheered some more. That was another no-no — lawmakers are prohibited from acknowledging the galleries from the floor.
And then, my moment of shame. Someone on the floor called out thanks to the press, saying our reporting had spread the word and fueled their protest. The 100-or-so Members of Congress on the floor and the several hundred partisans in the gallery cheered for us.
My colleagues and I were mortified.
We are not in this business to help anybody, only to report the story. We certainly do not want credit for helping Democrats perpetrate what Republicans correctly labeled a "stunt."
Make no mistake: This was a stunt. It was a brazen attempt to make headlines and draw attention to an issue, not an attempt to legislate. Democrats then sent fundraising emails citing the sit-in as a reason to donate, which raises some questions about whether they violated House rules against using the chamber for political purposes.
But to be fair, when Republicans voted more than 50 times to repeal Obamacare, that was a "stunt," too. And of course, they were sending fundraising appeals every time. Congress is legislating less and less, and much of what it does nowadays is a stunt. Lawmakers are playing to the audience, and as reporters, we are the conduit to that audience. We cover these things even when they are theater because it is still news that this is how they are using their time.
The fact is, while reporters are much prouder of being labeled the enemy, much of the time we have a symbiotic relationship with politicians. They want to get their message out, we want to get the story out. Nearly every week I get an email from a congressional office offering me an exclusive on (whatever topic), an offer that generally means I will be exclusively writing the version of the story that politician wants to tell. They use us, and we are willingly used, and we know that.
But having a hundred Democrats look up to our gallery and cheer, publicly crediting us for promoting their stunt, was embarrassing. I wanted to shout, "I'm not on your side!" But of course I didn't. They suspended their rules, but I did not suspend mine.
I don't like being used, manipulated for a stunt, made to be a stage manager for political theater. And I am pretty sure my colleagues felt the same way because I haven't seen anyone write about the fact that the lawmakers gathered on the House floor thanked the press for making their stunt go viral that day.
As much as I hate to help anybody, I have to confess here: I helped the Democrats tell the world they were protesting on the House floor, even though I knew they had no chance of passing legislation or changing government policy.
But what was I to do? It was new, it was interesting, and it was news. I did what my job tells me to do.
But please – don't thank me.
Singer is USA TODAY's Washington correspondent.
