[null and void]

His yea vote would not have changed the result one bit.

It provided the democrats the fig-leaf they needed to claim that the bill had bipartisan support.

Knowing the difficult situation Cao faced, the GOP waited till the 218th vote was cast in favor of the bill before letting him cast his lone vote.

And if the democrats only got 217 votes? Would the GOP have "let" him vote his "conscience"????

[SeekAndFind]

It provided the democrats the fig-leaf they needed to claim that the bill had bipartisan support.

Awww c'mon, who's fooling who ? One SINGLE vote and a reluctant one at that is bi-partisan ? That wouldn't garner any serious belief.