First Few Days in Congress as a new Congressman

Day 1,015, 15:08 • Published in USA USA • by Heero Blaze

Well my friends, what can I say? WE DID IT! Despite the initial fear of a PTO, the Admin’s intervention allowed elections to run as normally as possible, though only four parties were able to run candidates. With the support of friends, voters, and most of all, the Federalist Party, I have been elected Congressman of Maine.


I sit over there! Look! I'm waving to you!

It was a tight race and I’d like to tip my hat to Marxus, the candidate from the United States Workers Party. Throughout the day the election swung back and forth between myself and my opponent. The final count was 15 to 14, with 4 votes each to the other two candidates, a great turnout for the state of Maine. Of course, I cannot thank the Federalist Party enough for the support they have provided throughout my campaign.



Now, as I stated in my previous article and campaign platform, I said I’d keep the public aware of my actions in Congress. So I now relate my first few days as a new Congressman.

GI Joe put it best

I was first contacted by the magnificent rainy sunday. She gave a variety of resources for my job as Congressman. Congress is of course an institution of traditions, rules, and regulations. So there is plenty of reading to do.

I spent my two days in here, reading and sleeping on books.

She also gave me some advice: “pace yourself and ask thoughtful questions if clarification is needed.” Later on, rainy sunday agreed to be my mentor for the term and I am deeply grateful for her help.

It wasn’t long before a new issue was brought up in Congress. Just two days after the election, Dr. Tango of Indiana proposed a vote to impeach the Speaker of the House Necros Xiaoban of Texas. Dr. Tango argued that Necros was not performing his duties adequately. As a new Congressman, it was difficult to judge the arguments and other Congressmen felt that it was not in the best interest of the Congress as a whole to bring up this issue immediately following an election. The role of the Speaker of the House as I have interpreted it, is to keep consistency between Congresses so that every Congress does not have to waste time choosing a new Speaker after each election. But as I was not apart of the previous Congress, I could neither validate the claims presented for or against Necros Xiaoban. Therefore, I abstained from the vote. The vote was close, with 16 in favor, 14 against, and 7 abstaining.

With Necros Xiaoban impeached, the Congress now seeks a new Speaker of the House. Nominations have taken place and Dr. Tango and Ligtreb are currently running.

Other proposals and votes that have occurred this week in the forums include a set minimum budget for American militias and the removal of funds from Arm America. In both instances, I voted in favor.

For the first issue, I debated whether a minimum for militias would decrease funds significantly from other areas, especially the military which I proudly serve in and support. However, after hearing the arguments that such a minimum would only cause a minor decrease in funds across several departments, I decided in favor so that more Americans who choose to fight in militias will continue to fight effectively. The vote passed with 22 in favor and 8 against.

These girls need guns too! They fight on the same battlefields as our military men. Let's not get too distracted now!

As for the removal of funds from the Arm America program, the argument that it has not been used recently made the choice simple, and it passed with 33 in favor and only 1 abstaining.

Other in-game votes so far have been fairly standard, including transferring of funds to the Congressional Budget Office and approving Mutual Protection Pacts with our allies. So while it has been a busy session even before the first week concludes, it has been a great experience listening to debates, weighing the issues, and helping our nation.

As times goes on, I do hope to keep the people of Maine updated on my actions in Congress. Ghinculov of Maine has already contacted me asking when I’d post an article and here it is. My thanks to him for making sure I keep my word. Also, ghinculov has asked to do an interview for his piece on Politics in Maine, which will be found in his newspaper (http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/maine-s-rolling-thunder-190935/1) sometime tomorrow. If anyone from Maine has any questions or comments, feel free to ask!