By: Maureen Dowd
The first-floor session is done! It was truly an enlightening experience for everyone present. I believe the biggest shock of the afternoon was seeing Rep. Omar voted with the Republicans to elect Speaker of the House, Steve Scalise. Many democrats were blindsided by this decision and seem to heavily disagree with her. Some even went as far as to say that the decision was “out of character”. So, what did people have to say about the first floor session of this Congressional session?
The first interview of the day was with Rep. Maria Salazar who wanted to comment on an article that was posted earlier that day about the Republicans unwillingness to work with the Democrats. She says, “Not all Republicans are in that boat. There are a few of us who are willing to work across the aisle and I think if you had seen the civility of the Foreign Affairs Committee, there were disagreements, but we handled it in a very civil manner” (Carmen Henk). Rep. Salazar seems to be admitting that there is a certain divide between the Republican party in regards to whether or not they’re willing to work across the aisle.
The next person I interviewed was the man himself, President Joe Biden. When asked about Rep. Omar voting for Steve Scalise said, "I do have to respect it as a personal opinion, but we did want the Democratic party to be fully unified in their choice towards Jeffries” (Cole Hendrickx).
When asked about the reactions from Congress about his speech President Biden was very surprised and loved the reactions from both sides of the House. “It helped me keep pursuing it and made me more confident. I loved how the Democrats and Republicans cheered and I’m very happy that everyone was professional.”
Not everything was sunshine and rainbows as President Biden imagined. Outside of the auditorium we found Minority Whip Cori Bush and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries arguing with Rep. Omar. While we were not able to discern exactly what was discussed it is safe to assume that it had something to do with Rep Omar’s decision.
I was lucky enough to be able to briefly interview Cori Bush after the argument and asked her thoughts about Rep. Omar’s decision. “I’m disappointed. But after we spoke, I could see where he’s coming from, and I look forward to working with him. He has told me that he’s going to be voting democrat on all else. His vote for Scalise was less of a vote for him as a person and actually a vote for bipartisanship (Sasha Angel).
As we can see emotions were running high on all accounts. Republican and Democrat. Congress Member and President. Only time will tell if bipartisanship will be attainable with this session of Congress.
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