As Congressional lawmakers ended the 16-day government shutdown Wednesday night by approving a bill to resume funding for the Federal government through Jan. 17, longtime House stenographer Dianne Reidy caused a ruckus inside the House chamber by interrupting the vote and shouting, “the House is divided” and “this is not one Nation under God!”
Reidy’s outburst, captured by C-Span, lasted only moments before House security officials carried her away as she continued shouting, “You are all sons of the devil!”
The stenographer was quoted saying: “He will not be mocked! This is not one Nation under God. It never was. The greatest deception here is this is not one Nation under God! It never was. Had it been, it would not have been! The Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons! You cannot serve two masters! You cannot serve two masters! Praise be to God, Lord Jesus Christ.”
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who banged her gavel and repeatedly shouted “Order!” throughout the outburst, told Fox News that Reidy “came up to the podium area beneath where I was standing and asked me if the microphones were on. I said that I didn’t know. I assumed that perhaps I was chatting too much to the helpful parliamentarians around me. Then she suddenly faced the front and said words like ‘Thus spoke the Lord.’ And, ‘This is not the Lord’s work.’
“I hammered to get control and hush her up. She said something about the devil. It was sudden, confusing and heartbreaking. She is normally a gentle soul.”
Reidy is a well-known and well-liked person on Capitol Hill, according to reports. Her outburst has been described as uncharacteristic of the 20-year veteran stenographer.
“She’s a well-known person, she’s a perfectly nice person, a good colleague, somebody who’s respectable and dependable, and this is very surprising to everybody who works with her… I don’t know, she just snapped,” a GOP aide told CNN.
Commenting under pseudonym “LiesAreSickening” on an International Business Times report about Reidy’s outburst, one person claiming to be “a close relative” of the stenographer, defended her actions thusly:
I am a close relative to Dianne Reidy and I assure you all, she does not have, nor has ever had, a mental disorder of any sort. She is the most loving person I have ever known and has been there for me since birth. I am not the religious type like she is, but the statements she made seemed more logical to me than any of those made by the government officials. I was so surprised when I found out, being that this was very out of character for her and she must have been feeling the frustrations of herself and the others around her to an overwhelming point. I applaud her for her courage in voicing the thoughts of thousands, I am sure. The fact that some of the people present are attempting to make her out to be mentally incompetent is ridiculous and only makes her statements seem all the more valid. Of course they would attempt to discredit her statements by making her seem unstable… that is a perfect example of the way our government handles and ensures their control over the masses of America. Dianne Reidy is a caring person, completely sane as well as highly intelligent and educated, and she does not deserve to experience slander of any type. I may not be able to call myself a devout christian, but I do know when someone is simply “off” in their logic with applying religious concepts to societal concepts– Dianne Reidy is not one of these individuals.