NO BIAS HERE: Roll Call reports that the House “Ethics” Committee has absolved Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) of violating Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s rule requiring every Member of Congress to pass through a magnetometer before entering the House chamber.
The rule — known informally around the Capitol as the “Boebert Dome,” after Israel’s anti-missile defensive system — is a response to Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s insistence on packing a Hog Leg everywhere she goes, including on the House floor. Pelosi reportedly worries that the petite Boebert, who has years of experience running a bar frequented by rowdy cowboys, is known for having a short temper, a quick trigger finger and perfect aim.
First offense fine is $500 and a second offense is $2,500. Do it a third time and you are detained by FBI Director Christopher Wray, strapped to a chair in Pelosi’s dank, dark Capitol basement chambers and forced to listen to recordings of her weekly news conferences, over and over and over and ….
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-FL) and Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX), who have refused to pay their fines, may be asking who among their Republican colleagues on the committee, which is evenly divided with five members of each party, joined Democrats on the Clyburn and Rogers votes.
Clyburn, it should be recalled, is the House Majority Whip whose support during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary was crucial to rescuing Joe Biden’s then-faltering campaign. Rogers is a veteran member of the Washington Establishment by virtue of his long tenure on the House Appropriations Committee, including multiple years as chairman when the GOP had the majority.