One GOP Representative, two Democrats vote against resolution to honor Penn State coach Joe Paterno

Penn State coach Joe Paterno was honored by the United States House of Representatives this week for his 400th victory.

But the vote was not unanimous...

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By a vote of 417-3, the House adopted H.R. 7415. Why did three members vote Nay?

Penn State Clips called the offices of all three Representatives to find out...

• An intern for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York) checked with his colleagues and returned with what he described as a "one-liner," saying, "It's not anything against Coach Paterno, but the Congresswoman does not feel the House should be wasting its time on frivolous honorary resolutions."
• A spokesman for Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) read a prepared statement from the Congressman: "I love Joe Paterno. But we don’t need to waste our time telling the country he's a great coach. Everybody already knows that. Sports teams and heroes get more than their share of adulation. Let's start recognizing teachers and scientists."
• Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) echoed his fellow Congressmen through a staffer, "We have problems in this country we must address, not the least of which is creating jobs. The Congressman doesn't think we should be wasting our time on honorary resolutions."

Fair enough, though we would note that last year both Chaffetz and Slaughter voted to approve a similar resolution honoring the New York Yankees for winning the World Series.

Mr. DeFazio voted "Present."

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