Lawmakers Debate the Merits of Nickelback on House Floor

The merits of Nickelback as debated by Congress.

One lawmaker in Washington D.C. took a few moments on Thursday during a debate over campaign finance reform to extol the virtues of the Canadian band, Nickelback.

The alternative rock band from Canada came up during a discussion about a sweeping election reform bill put forward by House Democrats. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) was addressing the chamber when he made a comparison to an unpopular amendment about "prison gerrymandering" to the much-maligned band.

"Only four wanted to keep this provision. Everyone else wanted to change this out of the 77,000," Pocan said. "That's probably about the percentage of people who think Nickelback is their favorite band in this country. It's pretty low."

Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) interrupted his colleague to ask why he would criticize "one of the greatest bands of the 90s!"

"Wow," Pocan said in response.

When it was Davis' turn to speak, he began his comments by saying that he was sure Pocan didn't mean to "offend the many thousands upon thousands of Nickelback fans in his district in Wisconsin."

"I stand here to save you from doing that and have to face the political consequences at the ballot box," said Davis, who admitted to having a Nickelback song on his running playlist.

"I enjoyed debating back and forth and it's always good to have some good humor on the floor of the House. Yes, I actually do have a Nickelback song on my running playlist that I listen to on a regular basis and was ridiculed about that when I posted my playlist one time and I know some in this chamber even up at the dais are still laughing about that. But this amendment is a bad amendment," Davis said.

Pocan joked that Democrats and Republicans can't seem to even agree on Nickelback.

"Wow. Another reason why there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats found on the floor of Congress today," said Pocan.

Prison gerrymandering is the practice of drawing district lines around prisons, in which the prisoners are counted as residents, even though they cannot vote.

Photo: Getty Images


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