'Do something!' Rep. Stacey Plaskett furious as she's told she can't vote for speaker

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

January 3, 2025 4:39PM ET


A congresswoman from the Virgin Islands rose in the House during the speakership vote on Mike Johnson (R-LA) to protest the more than a century-long refusal of the House to give a vote on the floor to elected officials from U.S. territories.

"I note that the names of representatives from American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia were not called, representing, collectively, 4 million Americans," said Stacey Plaskett to broad applause from the Democratic side of the chamber. "Mr. Speaker, collectively, the largest per capita of veterans in this country."

"Does the gentlelady have a problem?" the presiding member asked. "I asked why they were not called," said Plaskett. "I asked why they were not called from the parliamentarian, please." "Delegates-elect and the resident commissioner-elect are not qualified to vote," came the response. "Representatives-elect are the only individuals qualified to vote in the election of the speaker. As provided in Section 36 of the House rules and manual, the speaker is elected by a majority of the members-elect voting by surname."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker," said Plaskett. "This body and this nation has a territory and a colonies problem. What was supposed to be temporary has now, effectively, become permanent. We must do something about this."

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/stacey-plaskett-2670736563/?utm_source=superhead

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Saw that live. The GOP side was pissed at her righteous rant (despite the fact that I believe that all of the Delegates except the one from the VI (Plaskett) and from D.C. (Eleanor Holmes Norton) are Republicans (P.R., Guam, Am. Samoa, Mariana Islands))!

[Rhiannon12866]

1. "I have a voice!" - Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) - C-SPAN

Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) makes a parliamentary inquiry as to why delegates from U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are not allowed to vote for Speaker of the House. - Aired on 01/03/2025.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Thanks for adding the clip!

The irony is that a bunch of Delegates who are impacted just like her, were sitting over on the GOP side apparently silent.

[Just Jerome]

3. Don't know whether she would have accepted,

but I so wanted her for Biden’s AG.

[Bluethroughu]

7. That would have been wonderful.

[cadoman]

4. incredible show of strength

If these are not states, then what are they? Occupied territories? Let them participate in our democracy or go free.

[FBaggins]

5. They are territories - but not occupied territories

Most of them were originally Spanish colonies and were acquired from Spain in years following the Spanish/American War.

The US has had nonvoting territorial representation since the beginning (including during the founding period).

[70sEraVet]

6. Taxation without representation?

They have representatives, but no voice.
She's right -- we DO have a territory and colonies problem.

[Igel]

9. Only partly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Puerto_Rico

Unless you derive earned income from the US government, no federal income taxes. You pay payroll taxes but you also get social security and medicaid/medicare benefits. Wiki notes that they pay more in federal income taxes than 6 states (the source for that is 2020, so that's probably for year 2018, maybe 2019) but not that PR currently has more than 3x the population of all but one of those states. (Don't know the stats for 2018/19 for population.)

Still, they do have a voice, just not a vote. However, they could apply to become states (with some kind of adjustment; we think it's unjust for a Wyoming resident to have a great impact per vote than somebody from California; giving the VI and WY each just 1 representative would be expected, but the VI has 1/12th the population of WY.)

[IbogaProject]

13. Yes they pay taxes which use our 1040 the payments go to their own locations

I guess federal employees or any mainland income get taxed by the IRS.

[madville]

12. Gonna be a tough sell

To convince their constituents they need to start paying federal income tax on income derived inside the territory in order to get a vote in the House.

[Igel]

8. Part's that she must not know the Constitution.

Or she just wanted to make a point, does know but wants the usual procedure for being made a state ignored. PR has voted and the referendum has failed--lack of turnout or statehood was voted down.



As it is, I assume that if all 5 territories were made states a lot of people would have serious issues with them each having 1 Representative and 2 Senators. It would make the disproportionate representation by population number by states like Colorado seem downright great.

We could lump them all together or maybe unite Samoa, Marianas and Guam with HI, PR and the VI with, I don't know, FL or make them their own state. But our democracy has a process and they can follow it. (They could also just vote for independence and get rid of their affiliation with the structurally racist patriarchal US entirely.)

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "Or she just wanted to make a point"

She knows.

Remember that Eleanor Holmes Norton (in addition to demanding D.C. statehood) had made this subject one of her defining battles.

Norton is now 87 and as the only other Democrat (IIRC) among the Delegates (having represented D.C. for almost 35 years), has probably begun to "pass the torch" on to Plaskett, who has been the perfect firebrand to carry on the tradition.

[madville]

11. Just absorb them into existing states

The Caribbean islands become part of Florida, Hawaii gets the Pacific ones and D.C. can become part of Maryland and/or Virginia. Problem solved.