Tuesday, May 31, 2011

If you want it, here it is, come and get it

Normally I hate when Congress engages in these "show votes" and tonight's House vote to reject a debt ceiling increase is no exception. But let's remember who asked for the ayes and nays:
Just last month, 114 Democrats signed a letter calling for a “clean” vote and Democratic Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also advocated one. But today, Hoyer announced he was advising his caucus to vote against the measure. Ultimately, just 97 Democrats voted for it, with 82 explicitly voting against it (on top of the seven “present” votes).
Congressional leaders will be meeting with Obama tomorrow, possibly to discuss another commission whose recommendations they will summarily ignore.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But let's remember who asked for the ayes and nays

Busted! Oh, sweat!

You'll get the genuine ayes and nays when the Majority Leader schedules a real vote, of course.

Kabuki gridlock does get confusing. Say, is blocking up-and-down votes on judicial nominees still unconscionable, or is that a pre-2009 mindset?

//////// said...

“This vote, based on legislation I’ve introduced, will and must fail."
--Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee

Anonymous said...

Congressional leaders will be meeting with Obama tomorrow, possibly to discuss another commission whose recommendations they will summarily ignore.

By any chance, are you referring to the Simpson-Bowles commission on fiscal responsibility and reform that was only created because of Republican vote-switching tactics in the Senate designed to strip the commission of its legislative clout, but was revived by executive order, and which ended without making any recommendations whatsoever, and whose failure to reach consensus inspired 2 of its 18 members to announce their own unilateral declaration in the (apparently successful) hope that their unendorsed point of view would be waved around by conservatives as "the commission's final recommendations," but which are not considered as such by anyone not flogging an agenda? Or is it a different commission?