House defeats bid to reprimand Murtha

By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press

House Democrats rejected a Republican bid Tuesday to reprimand Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a senior lawmaker accused of threatening legislative reprisals against a GOP member who had crossed him.

Before and after the largely party-line vote, which caused some Democrats discomfort, Republicans taunted Democratic leaders about their campaign promises to run a more ethical and open Congress.

The House voted 219-189 to kill the Republicans' motion to reprimand Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, Iraq war foe and close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif.

Two Democrats — Earl Blumenauer (news, bio, voting record) of Oregon and Jim Cooper (news, bio, voting record) of Tennessee — voted against killing the motion. One Republican — Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania — voted for the motion to table, or kill, the proposed reprimand.

Blumenauer said in a statement that he voted against killing the motion because the issue "deserved debate or a referral to the Ethics Committee."

"If former Republican House leader Tom DeLay of Texas "had been accused of threatening a Democrat on the House floor, I would expect the same," Blumenauer said.

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