The congressional stenographer who was removed from the House floor during Wednesday's budget deal vote for shouting about the Freemasons and God says the Holy Spirit had been waking her up to deliver the message.
“For the past 2 and 1/2 weeks, the Holy Spirit has been waking me up in the middle of the night and preparing me (through my reluctance and doubt) to deliver a message in the House Chamber. That is what I did last night," stenographer Dianne Reidy told Fox News.
Her husband, Dan, told Fox: "My wife is a sweet, level-headed wonderful woman of God. I am proud of her."
In this image from House Television, with partial voting totals on the screen, a woman, at the rostrum just below the House presiding officer, seen between the "yea" and "nay" wording, is removed from the House chamber after she began shouting during the vote for the bill to end the partial 16-day government shutdown and to fund the government. The woman was described by lawmakers and aides as a long-time House stenographer. (AP)
Voting was just concluding to reopen the government and lift the nation's debt ceiling when Dianne Reidy began to shout.
"This is not one nation under God, it never was ... the Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons. They go against God. You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God, lord Jesus Christ," she said.
After her outburst, Reidy was escorted from the podium and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. She was later released.
Dan Reidy told the Daily Beast his wife told him she had been waking up several times a night, even before the shutdown started, and that there was no question in her mind that it was indeed the Holy Spirit. He said his wife deeply respects Capitol decorum and it was "her reluctance and her doubt" that made her resist delivering the message sooner.
“That’s so out of character,” he told the Daily Beast. “She so respects the Capitol and the traditions of the House of Representatives."
Dan Reidy said Dianne "didn’t want to do it" but had also become "sickened" by the shutdown mess.
“The alliances between people who aren’t really allies. The finger-pointing on the dais, [then] the arms around each other … Where are the people being served in this whole deal?” he said. “She was just like, ‘Gosh, this is not what it’s about.’”
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