Congress Certified Bush Victory

Jan. 7 -- With Vice President Al Gore presiding over the ceremony, George W. Bush was declared the official winner of the tortuous 2000 presidential contest on Saturday.

“May God bless our new president and new vice president and mayGod bless the United States of America,” Gore said.

Saturday’s joint session of Congress was a constitutionalformality to tally the result of the electoral votes that wasinitially made on Dec. 18 in every state capital. To prevail, acandidate needs 270 electoral votes, a majority of the 538electoral votes of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

Democrats Protest

But the ceremony was disrupted by a symbolic protest organized by the Congressional Black Caucus, complaining that the vote in Florida was unfair.

One by one, 16 representatives, most of them African American, stood up to voice their objections.

Under the rules, they were notallowed to debate their claims and were quickly silenced by Gore amid grumbling from Republicans.

In a sometimes light-hearted exchange between Gore and some of the members, Gore rejected several motions to disband the session that is certifying the ElectoralCollege vote.

At one point, Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., among the objectinglawmakers, called out to Gore, “We did all we could.”

“The chair thanks the gentleman from Florida,” Gore respondedwith a smile.

The members also expressed outrage over the lack of support from Senate members. A formal objection to the proceedings would have required a member of the Senate to join the protest in writing.

After the protest, the 16 House Democrats filedout of the chamber en masse.

“One person, one vote must be more than empty rhetoric,” saidRep. Barbara Lee , D-Calif. “The right to vote is meaningless ifevery vote is not counted.”

”In defense of democracy, in defense of every American’s right to vote, [and] beyond the court-sanctioned injustices that we experienced in Florida, I feel that Vice President Gore won this election,” Hastings said. “While the rules may prevent the hearing of my challenge, they do not relieve me of my responsibility to the voters in my constituency who stood in line to make their voices heard only to find that their voices had been muted by injustice.”