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WASHINGTON D.C. (FOX 10) -- A Republican and a Democrat lawmaker debated, among other things, the merits of Canadian rock band Nickelback Thursday afternoon.

According to a video posted by cable channel C-SPAN, the debate in the House of Representatives happened during a wider debate on House Resolution 172, which deals with electoral issues. The debate took a turn to the Western Canada band, as lawmakers talked about the census counting of prisoners as residents of the district where the prison is located.

"I would just like to add in 2016 when the census and the federal register asked for comment on this, 77,000 people did comment. Only four wanted to keep this provision. Everyone else wanted to change this out of the 77,000," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI). "That's probably about the percent of people who think Nickelback is their favorite band in this country. It's pretty low."

That comment by Rep. Pocan elicited a response from Republican Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois.

"Why would you criticize one of the greatest bands of the 90s?" said Rep. Davis.

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


Later on in the debate, Rep. Davis admitted to listening to a Nickelback song on a regular basis. The debate then returned to the issue of the counting of the prison population. Rep. Davis, following that brief debate, posted a photo of his song playlist, which includes, among other things, the song "If Today Was Your Last Day" by Nickelback.

Even Rep. Pocan made light of that debate on Twitter, using the Nickelback song "Photograph".

In recent years, Nickelback has been known to generate a certain amount of negative feedback from the public. In 2015, police in Australia's Queensland state tweeted out a "Be On The Lookout" poster featuring drawings of the band members, accusing them of crimes against music. The tweet was made as the band was playing in a Brisbane suburb. There was even a study on Nickelback that was released in 2016.

FOX 10 reported on this story from Phoenix.