2023-04-28 11:54:57
EThere were only a few feet separating Zooey Zephyr from her seat in the House of Representatives. But instead of sitting at the wooden desk, the Democratic representative sat on the visitor benches in the hallway of the Capitol in Montana on Thursday. Zephyr posted a photo, laptop in front of him, stacks of papers at his side. “I’m working here on behalf of my constituents as best I can given these undemocratic circumstances.”
The 34-year-old trans woman is currently allowed to follow debates via video and vote on bills – but not take part in MPs’ discussions. Zephyr is the latest case in point of a new phenomenon in the tense political mood in the United States: the punishment of Democratic lawmakers by the (temporary) expulsion from the Chamber by the Republican majority. It is about the core issues of the Kulturkampf in America.
The situation surrounding MP Zephyr had escalated in the past few days. In Montana, 67 Republicans face 33 Democrats in the House of Representatives. Most recently, there was a bill to ban gender reassignment treatments for underage transsexuals – one of many in Republican-dominated states. It has become one of the party’s fighting issues. Zephyr had said in the debate whoever votes for it has “blood on their hands”. She later pointed out that she wasn’t exaggerating, and reported on a trans teenager who tried to kill himself while watching such a debate on television. House Speaker Matt Regier then denied her the right to speak until she apologized.
“Obedience to all rules”
Several hundred protesters gathered in the Capitol on Monday. On the chamber’s gallery, some chanted, “Let them speak.” Zephyr herself stood among the deputies, one hand holding her microphone in the air. Calls for calm went unheeded. Seven demonstrators were arrested and eventually released for trespassing, and Republicans threatened disciplinary action against Zephyr. Then, in a vote on Wednesday, the entire Republican faction voted to partially suspend the House of Representatives until the end of the May 5 session.
“Obedience to all the rules of this body, including the rules of decency,” must be observed. The only person Zephyr is silencing is herself, spokesman Regier said. The democratic faction strongly criticized the step, after all it was ultimately about the behavior of the demonstrators. It is a right guaranteed by the Montana Constitution for citizens to attend a meeting. It was “disappointing but not surprising” that Republicans disregarded it.
Suspending members of Congress temporarily or entirely from political activity is normally a highly unusual move in the United States. This applies to the states as well as to the Congress in Washington. The Senate, for example, has only expelled 15 senators since 1789 – the last in 1995 for abuse of power and sexual assault. So far, exclusion has not been considered an instrument of political trench warfare, but for serious misconduct. So the recent cases may be a sign that the polarization of politics in the United States is increasing. President Joe Biden recently described the first such event in Tennessee as “shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented”. Rather than debate, Republicans chose to silence elected officials.
Next hot topic: gun violence
At first glance, everything in Tennessee is the same as it was before the events that made headlines far beyond the state: The two Democrats Justin Jones and Justin Pearson have resumed their seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives – but only temporarily. The two black MPs must defend their seats in a special election to return permanently. The exclusion of the young men had caused widespread outrage in mid-April.
In her case, it was about the sensitive issue of gun violence. A perpetrator shot dead three children and three adults at an elementary school in Nashville. A few days later, thousands demonstrated in front of the Capitol and some in the Visitors’ Gallery of the House of Representatives in Nashville for stricter gun laws. Jones, Pearson and Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson joined the protests and disrupted the House session for several minutes as they marched forward with a bullhorn in the chamber. The Republicans spoke of “mutiny” and compared the scene to the storming of the Capitol by violent Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. With their majority, they excluded Jones and Pearson from the House of Representatives – the white MP Johnson survived the vote by a narrow margin.
Biden invited lawmakers to Washington this week and thanked them for their “community service.” Every generation must fight anew for democracy. Congressman Jones appealed to his fellow campaigners in the Oval Office: Courage can be contagious.
#dont #fly