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Let the Dean of the House Swear in all Reps-Elect NOW! [1]

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Date: 2023-01-05

In a recent Christmas card sent from cousins in Kansas, we learned that they only successfully headed overseas on vacation last year after their Congressman helped solve an unexpectedly delayed passport situation.

Some folks already have suffered from similar issues this week, yet without sworn-in Representatives, even folks who’ve served in Congress for decades, such as Steny Hoyer, Marcy Kaptur, and even Nancy Pelosi, technically can’t perform traditional constituent services.

Ignoring EVERYTHING happening with the Speaker brouhaha, the fact that we have 434 Member-Elects yet no actual Members of the House of Representatives affects this fundamental role of Reps in an unacceptable way.

Specifically, without sworn-in members, no American has any representation in the House, which seems to violate at least a couple of Constitutional amendments.

Feels like someone even could file suit right now, against the government of the Untied States of America, for denying all of us our due representation in the House.

However, a FAR easier solution appears obvious: just because the House has no Presiding Officer does NOT mean that the Members can’t get sworn in.

Traditionally, the not-yet-sworn-in Dean of the House – the longest continuously serving member of the House - swears-in the Speaker, who then swears in all the Members-Elect, including the Dean.

No law requires this – only tradition.

So, let’s fix this Catch-22 and remove the ridiculousness of Members-Elect voting for a Presiding Officer before they’re officially Members.

Let’s fix it today.

Let’s fix it now.

Call your Member-Elect - via https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative or through the House switchboard at 202-224-3121 - and tell them to nominate the Dean of the House to serve as the Presiding Officer of the House ONLY for the purpose of swearing in Members-Elect.

The Dean of the House, a nominally ceremonial position, ALREADY traditionally swears in the Speaker, who then swears in everyone else.

Why limit the role?

Why not, as the FIRST act of a new Congress, let the Dean of the House swear in ALL Members-Elect at once (after the Dean Apparent, with the second-most continuous House seniority – currently Chris Smith – swears in the Dean).

No rules govern this procedure, only precedent, per the most recent report from the Congressional Research Service.

By making this switch, Congress could go without a Speaker indefinitely, but all Representatives still could represent their districts.

Yes, the current Dean of the House, Hal Rogers, isn’t someone who anyone on the left normally would support to run anything. However, John Dingell served in this same position for two decades, and the other side of the aisle also would have objected to him.

Unlike the Speaker of the House, there’s ALWAYS a Dean of the House, going back to the first day of the first Congress. As someone whose otherwise ceremonial position already includes – and basically ONLY includes – the role of swearing in the Speaker, expanding that position in this manner, and ONLY this manner, seems a no-brainer, even for the majority of folks in this Congress.

Elevating all the Members-Elect to Members won’t affect the Speaker fight

It won’t affect the House Rules package.

It won’t affect anything involved the current debate.

However, it WILL affect constituent services.

It WILL restore security clearances to the folks on the Select Committee on Intelligence (who, for returning Reps, the House also should designate as maintaining their positions until the next Congress formally changes committee assignments).

IT WILL meaningfully affect many other vital functions of the government, allowing the House of Representatives to function as actual Representatives – and remedying the current situation, which currently DENIES all Americans their constitutional right to a representative in the House.

Even if this Congress then can’t pass any policies or vote on so much as naming a post office.

So, please, call your Member-Elect now, via https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative or through the House switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Implore them to modify this tradition TODAY to get themselves sworn in.

Let’s fix the one part of this process that seems fixable RIGHT now.

Show the country that the Dems can lead even from the minority.

Show the country that the Dems will put country ahead of party, even though it requires gifting this role to a Republican.

Then, whenever we do get a Speaker, formalize it - even if this means, most likely, that someone from among Republicans Chris Smith, Ken Calvert, Frank Lucas, and Robert Aderholt likely will serve as Dean for the next dozen Congresses, given their combination of seniority and comparative youth.

Let’s make sure that ALL AMERICANS, at the beginning of every new Congress, continue to receive representation in that Congress, without any more ridiculous interruptions for political theater.

Let’s get this done now.

Then we can go make more popcorn to watch the next act of this circus.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/5/2145604/-Let-the-Dean-of-the-House-Swear-in-all-Reps-Elect-NOW

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