Houston Democrats

Speaker Dennis Hastert will not willingly allow Mollohan's bill to come to a vote. Therefore, Mollohan must use a discharge petition to bring his bill before the US House of Representatives. He needs 218 signatories in order to discharge his petition, including 20 Republicans signatories in order for his bill to be brought before the House for a vote.

The rules in question have created a deadlock in the Ethics Committee. In order to begin an ethics investigation, one must have the consent of a majority of its members. The Ethics Committee is composed of five Republicans and five Democrats, making it necessary for one of the members to cross party lines to investigate a member of his own party. Additionally, the new rules impose a limit of 45 days during which the committee must decide if it will take action on an ethics complaint. If no action is taken, the complaint dies without even having a vote, as the previous rules required.

Jesse Lee, the online editor for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will keep a record of Republican representatives' positions on H.Res.131. Email your information directly to Jesse Lee.

A "yes" will be entered on the record if they agree to sign, a "no" if they refuse, a "letter" if they refuse to answer over the phone but promise a letter, or a "stall" if they are not willing to give an answer in any form.

Updates on the effort will be featured on the DCCC's weblog, The Stakeholder.

Contact your Congressperson and get him or her to state whether he or she will sign the discharge petition.
You can go to Texas Legislature Online to find your Representative. You will also be able to see your zip code (+4) number that you can enter on the US House of Representatives page to determine if he or she is a Republican.

You can read more about this on the Daily KOS.