A resolution from Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives decrying the “horrors of socialism” split Maine’s two Democratic members and the party at large on Thursday.
The symbolic document is one of the first messaging bills teed up by the new Republican majority. Bipartisan measures are unlikely to pass given Democratic control of the Senate and the 60-vote filibuster there, so the main purpose of the measure was to split Democrats.
That’s what it did. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District was one of 109 Democrats to join Republicans in passing the measure, while U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of the 1st District was one of 86 to oppose it. Another 14 Democrats voted present.
“This was not a serious resolution, and the Congresswoman is disappointed that House Republicans are wasting time instead of serving the needs of our constituents and communities,” Pingree spokesperson Victoria Bonney said.
Golden’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the resolution. It lists historic communist leaders and atrocities conducted by some of their regimes before saying Congress “denounces socialism in all its forms” and “opposes the implementation of socialist policies.”
The resolution was proposed by the Cuban-American U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, who introduced a similar resolution last year that never came to the floor under Democratic control of the chamber.
“This Resolution marked the first time House Democrats have had to take a public position on socialism,” she said in a statement. “Sadly, this has exposed that almost half the Democratic Party refuses to denounce socialism.”