House proceedings on Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act...Taylor's remarks ruled improper

Wow another fascinating day in the House.

Republicans  introduced amendment after amendment to stymie the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007. In debate on  prohibiting communities from using CDBG funds for local match to receive disaster funds the following occurred.

Republican  Rep. Price (GA)  objected to remarks by MS Democrat  Rep. Gene Taylor (yes MS is not the the land of milk and honey recovery that the Bush assministration and wingnuts would have you think) The objection held up proceedings for over an hour. Taylor's remarks were ruled improper. This resulted in his speaking rights for the day being withdrawn. Rep. Barney Franks then  won a vote to restore Taylor's speaking rights. Then Repubs got pissy about civility

Here is video of Rep. Taylor's excellent remarks focusing on  the matching funds requirement and the Katrina fraud perpetrated by the Bush administration, Price's objection and what ensued....

The bill passed 302-125 with motion to reconsider laid on the table.

UPDATE: A transcript of Rep. Taylor's remarks.....

Mr. Taylor: First let me tell the gentleman from Georgia I appreciate him trying to save some money. I think his efforts though are a year late. If you want to look for  Katrina fraud look for the Katrina fraud that was perpetrated by the Bush administration. In south Mississippi at one point we had 40,000 people living in FEMA trailers. We're grateful for every one of them. But those trailers were delivered by a friend of the president, by the name of Riley Bechtel, major contributor to the Bush administration.  He got $16,000 to haul a trailer the last 70 miles from Pergus(?) MS down to the Gulf Coast, hook it up to a garden hose, hook it up to a sewer tap and plug it in. $16,000.So the gentleman never came to the floor once last year to talk about that fraud.

But now little towns like Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian that have no tax base because their stores were destroyed in the storm, a county like Hancock county where 90% of the residents lost everything or at least substantial damage to their home, he wants to punish Bay St. Louis, he wants to punish Waveland, he wants to punish Pass Christian,  for the mistakes of the Bush administration. Mr. Price, I wish you had the decency -- if you are going to do that to the people of South Mississippi then maybe you ought to come
visit South Mississippi and  see what has happened before you hold them to a standard that you would never hold your own people to and that you failed to hold the Bush administration to. With that I yield back the balance of my time.

The Chairman: The chair would ask members to address their remarks to the chair. The gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. Price:  I would inquire as to whether or not those words are eligible to be taken down?

The Chairman: The chair cannot rule at that at this point.

Mr. Price: Mr. chair, I demand his words be taken down.

The Chairman: Would the gentleman specify these words.

Mr. Price: The words accusing this member unbecoming of the house as it relates to having members of my district not be held to the same account.

Mr. Taylor 2:

Mr. Taylor: Thank you and thank you Mr. Buyer. In the course of the debate I encouraged with words that were a little bit too strong, my colleague from Georgia, to come visit south Mississippi and see the aftermath of Katrina. I used the word decency when  I should have said the courtesy. And if I have offended his decency then I apologize for that. But the offer stands. The gentleman was good enough to admit privately that he has not visited south Mississippi since the storm, has not seen that the town of Waveland is virtually gone, that Bay St. Louis is virtually gone, that Pass Christian is virtually gone and to the point of his amendment, how does a town that is gone come up with matching funds to restore itself. So I appreciate the gentleman yielding and I hope I have mad my point to the membership. I yield back.

Comments

[Tony]

FYI - Just watched this, excellent. Called Taylor's office in Gulfport to turn them on to it. Anticipating a spike in first-draft MS traffic. The guy logged in while I was on the phone and he loved it. I told him to check out the whole Scout saga on Katrina, citizen journalism at its finest.

Last comment, who will lose their mind first? Holden trying to cover Tony Snow or Athenea covering the Freepi. That's hard work...

[scout prime]

Thanks Tony. I thought Rep Taylor raised important issues and was quite classy. More than I can say for the Republicans the past 2 days

[ashley Morris]

Wow. So this is what the GOP is all about, huh? Oh man...

[scout prime]

Ashley the last 2 days the Repubs were quite the spectacle of pissiness and callous disregard for poor people....check that.....People

[Tom - 大肚腩]

I believe the city in Rep. Taylor's comments that isn't in the transcript is Pass Christian.

[scout prime]

Thanks Tom. That transcript was a rough one which I have now cleaned up.

[Mr.Murder]

Republicans prohibiting speech. Fire the prosecutor in her district and get this problem 'nipped in the Bud'(Cummins) so the Republican cannot be offended by appeals to decency.

[karrev]

Rep. Thomas is so eloquent, unlike the parade of GOP cartoon characters who spoke after he did. I only wish that this clip had come from Cartoon Network instead of C-Span. It's scary that these idiots are our "leaders."

[Mark]

The city you have a question about is Purvis, MS. Purvis is about an hour north of the coast, and was the staging area for some FEMA trailers.

[scout prime]

Thank you Mark.
And my apologies to Purvis, MS for getting that wrong

[doctorj]

Thank you Scout Prime for posting the video on You Tube. My mom lives in Pass Christian and I really wanted to see this video. I LOVE Gene Taylor! I wish he was my representative. He is as p o'ed as I am. lol!

[Jack]

I'm a Republican, but I've been a Gene Taylor fan for years. I was glad to see him call that whiny little pi$$ant from Georgia down on the carpet, and to bring up Bechtel.

I never trusted W to begin with, but the extent to which he has whored out to his business cronies has surprised even me. Damnit, I want my party back.

Thanks for posting that clip. Anyone know how to find out who voted which way on letting GT speak again?

[David Richardson]

Price is my Congressman in Dist 6 GA. He is an odious and unctuous little man. He ran unopposed in 2004 to get his first term. In 2006 he had opposition and refused to show up for two debates against his Dem challenger, Steve Sinton. When he appeared at a candidate forum ( no debate , just a five minute statement from each person running and no q's from the audience), we presented him with an oversized petition in the lobby asking why he wouldn't debate. He was upset about that calling it unseemly. On top of that he has the nerve to run a group in the house called "the Truth Squad'. When he was touring his district on the Soc Security issue he was met with tough q's from the various Dem groups and folded like a cheap tent.He has not held a Town Hall meeting since. Last month he held a meeting via phone for one hour - one hour. What a weasel.He deserves his comeuppance.