Posted on 04/15/2011 1:23:24 PM PDT by Monitor
The House floor erupted into a chaotic scene Friday as House Democrats tried to upset Republican plans to pass their 2012 budget resolution.
Democrats unsettled Republicans by voting "present" in a vote on a more conservative budget than the official GOP proposal put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), almost enabling that bill to pass.
In the end, it failed in a 119-136 vote, with 172 Democrats voting present.
Several Republicans, including Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (Calif.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), a member of GOP leadership, switched their votes to ensure the more conservative budget backed by the Republican Study Committee did not win approval.
The drama erupted when Democrats began to shift their votes to "present," with Democrats and Republicans alike standing to shout at one another and the presiding officer in a scene more akin to the British Parliament than the U.S. House. A majority of Republicans initially voted for the RSC bill, likely in anticipation that Democrats would oppose it.
As the presiding officer tried to close down the vote, about a dozen more Democrats asked to switch their vote from "no" to "present," which nearly allowed the RSC bill to pass.
“Democrats, vote 'present!' ” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) shouted at his colleagues, who tried, one by one, to switch their "no" votes to "present." Ryan, the architect of the official GOP budget, shouted “Shut it down!” in an effort to close the vote and count the tally before Democrats could switch enough of their votes to advance the amendment.
At one point, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) stood on a chair and pointed at the presiding officer to keep the vote open.
The RSC's alternative budget resolution would cut even more deeply into spending than Ryan's bill, and was not expected to be approved by the House.
In the end, only one more Republican voted against the RSC budget than supported it, 119-120.
“Well, I thought I was paid to actually cast a vote, not just show up,” Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), the chairman of the GOP conference, chuckled as he left the chamber.
Hensarling voted for the RSC budget and said he would have been fine had the Democratic maneuver worked and the GOP adopted the more conservative plan.
A spokeswoman for Hoyer said the maneuver was his idea and that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was aware of the plan before the vote. A second Democratic source said the plan was hashed out in a leadership meeting earlier in the week, without staff present.
"This vote will show which budget Republicans support — the Republican budget that ends Medicare as we know it and cuts investments while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest, or the extreme RSC budget that is the GOP budget on steroids: ending Medicare as we know it and going even further in decimating investments in our future," a whip notice from Hoyer's office said. "With Democrats voting present, Republicans are solely responsible for passage or failure of the RSC budget."
But Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said the plan to have members switch their votes was apparently concocted by Hoyer on the floor.
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) said if the plan had succeeded, Republicans would have moved Ryan's budget resolution as a substitute amendment.
The Republican whip, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), laughed at the Democratic maneuver. Of the 'present' votes, he told The Hill, "I guess they learned that from Obama in the Senate."
Earlier, the House also rejected a budget plan from the Progressive Caucus, in a 77-347 vote with no support from Republicans. A proposal from the Congressional Black Caucus was defeated in a 103-303 vote, again with no Republican support.
Uhm...NO. Not in a SANE world.
By the way, you’ll know they’re serious about the budget when the first criteria on every item is constitutionality...in other words, does it fall within Congress’ Enumerated Powers?
Until then, it’s mostly smoke and mirrors.
That is all Obama ever did in the Illinois senate and a lot in the US Senate too.
That’s quite odd.
Maybe Boehner threatened to pull their plug.
Thanks. Let me know if you find the video of the RSC vote.
Hmmm...getting stranger.
There were 119 Republicans who voted for the RSC budget. I think it was 18 votes shy of passing. If anyone finds out who the 119 were please post here.
Wow. A whole 32 seconds.
No, it sure doesn’t.
God is clearly revealing their gross hypocrisy to any who care to see.
my reading is that the RSC budget proposal was more stringent on spending, maybe something freshmen or other conservatives had put together to make a point.
no one expected it (or, congress being congress, wanted it) to pass but the Democrats suddenly jumped over in support of it, in an effort to show the criminal Republicans to be even more niggardly than previously believed.
also the Repubs would then have to go through the embarrassing process of overturning their own conservative budget bill in order to pass the Ryan bill
it wasn’t RINOs voting with Dems, it was the Dems tuning up their violins for the big fires to come
The dems would not twist in the wind. They would twist the votes in public, with media compliance, to hang the conservatives.
Conservatives need to become more pragmatic, study strategy and tactics and realize this is politics, which is war by other means.
A brief satisfaction followed by a stunning reversal and eventual defeat would invalidate everything we have gained, so far. We got here by donk incrementalism and we only get out with incrementalism of our own.
Pray for patience.
The RSC is conservative. Ryan is a republican.
Ryan’s plan doesn’t get the deficit for This year correct and doesn’t plan to balance the budget for more than twenty years. That’s not conservative.
I’m sorry but you’re going over the top. The fact is that our founders created a system of government where it all stops unless the House, Senate, President and SC agree. It was assumed that in the absence of man’s law, Liberty would result. It assumed that unless everyone generally agreed on something, it was not God’s design.
Madison planned for this to happen.
The House can stop this any time it wants. They don’t have to wait for any one else.
That’s exactly right. The Dems did us a favor, sifting the Conservatives from the Republicans.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.