The bill failed by a vote of 174-235 with 38 Republicans voting against it and yet it’s Democrats fault…I’d say can’t Americans be this stupid to believe this bullshit but yet here we are.
I think we aren’t really enjoying the true flavor of this vote. Allow me to enlighten.
McCarthy had added new rules to the budget process under Rule XXI related to the budget. It creates a “cut-as-you-go” system as opposed to the old “pay-as-you-go” system. This new rule change makes it fifty times more difficult to get an actual budget passed, I won’t go into details as it’s a lot to cover.
Now we arrive to H.Res. 10515, Trump’s amended American Relief Act. Now no part of this bill follows House Rule X or XXI on the budget except Division C (via H.Res. 8774), Division F (via H.Res. 8752), Division G (via H.Res. 8998), Division J (via H.Res. 8580), and Division K (via H.Res. 8771).
Side note for those wondering, the US budget has 12 regular appropriations (because the original theory was that you could pass one per month as opposed to a 1,500 page omnibus bill. I’m sure we can all see how wonderful that theory is working out) that are required that are labeled Division A, Division B, … Division L. Sometimes budgets include Division M and more letters past that like Division AA, BB, CC and so on, those are called “supplemental appropriations”. But the A through L are (in alphabetic order):
A - Agriculture, rural development, FDA, and related agencies B - Commerce, justice, science, and related agencies C - The Department of Defense D - Energy and water development of the United States and related agencies E - Financial services and general government appropriations F - The Department Of Homeland Security G - The Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies H - The Department of Labor, HHS, and Education, and related agencies I - The Legislative Branch Appropriations J - Military construction, VA, and related agencies K - The Department of State, Foreign operations, and related agencies L - Transportation, HUD, and related agencies
SO. Here’s the really tasty part. Because of McCarthy’s strange ass rules on the budget. The House has to “suspend the rules” in order to approve this bill (because the other seven divisions that haven’t follow the rules). That means it’s not just a simple majority, but a ⅔ majority is required. Even if every Republican did vote “yea”, they still needed 63 Democrats to sign on and they got only two. And they had to do this because McCarthy fucked them over with the rule change that the House Freedom Caucus asked for.
Had the House Freedom Caucus not asked for this “cut-as-you-go” system, Republicans wouldn’t have needed the Democrats in the vote. That’s what I think is amazing.
And the thing is, what was different between the Trump amendment and the original is, I detail in my comment here..
Literally this failure is so much on the Republicans for getting played at their own fucking game here. Maybe on January 3rd, they’ll adopt better rules. But who knows, there might be another fight over Speaker again. I would find it hilarious if the Democrats forward a continuation of the rules of the House just to keep McCarthy’s strange ass shit in there out of spite.
For those not in the know, the US House makes new rules every two years (which is when a new session of Congress starts, the next session is the 119th session for those wondering). Most times they just forward the standing rules of the previous session, but every so often a speaker of the house gets “Creative” and it’s always a fun show watching unintended consequences. McCarthy’s rule changes have not yet disappointed.
This was a super interesting, informative, and easy to understand summary of something I’ve always felt was daunting.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this.
That’s a great write up, along with your other comment.
I also suspect their infighting will continue to hamper them. Just looking at the speaker vote Im pretty sure they have an even smaller margin for speaker this time around.
In some countries, there is full-on state-run media and people have little choice but to be subjected to ridiculous propaganda. Here, we have a lot of people that actively seek out hot garbage for their sources of “news”, and consume it 24/7.
I think this is what makes our propaganda machine the most affective one in the world. China and Russia beat their citizens into submission, while the US breeds true believers from birth and use them to beat the rest of the population into submission so affectively the non-believers can’t fight the ruling class because their hands are tied fighting with the cult of self-imposed calamity.
I miss when I had to go on pornhub to see this many assholes in one picture
This is the compromise to all the red states that can’t access ph anymore.
Get ready for 4 years of this
Exactly. We can not only expect lots of headlines like: Republicans blame Democrats after blowing up _____, but we can expect the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair to buy this nonsense from their top ranks, too.
- Yeas
- Republican - 172
- Democrats - 2
- Total - 174
- Nays
- Republican - 38
- Democrats - 197
- Total - 235
- Present
- Democrat - 1
- Total - 1
- Not voting
- Republican - 9
- Democrat - 11
- Total - 20
It’s very disappointing to us that all but two Democrats voted against aid to farmers and ranchers, against disaster relief, against all these bipartisan measures that had already been negotiated and decided upon
Division A didn’t change from the original and the amended version. So the two were the same. Democrats were on board with Div. A in the original, what changed was Democrats denying Trump the suspension of the debt ceiling. And the reality is Republicans have the House Freedom Caucus to blame for this failure.
Republicans spent the 117th blocking everything they could from Democrats. Why Republicans thought Democrats were going to play ball in the upcoming 119th is likely the dumbest thing for them to bank on. Yeap, Democrats denied the gimmie for Trump because Trump doesn’t get to rug pull bills when he’s being pissy. That’s how that works. Trump wants to suspend the debt ceiling? Democrats had to swallow a ton of bitter pills to get a suspension in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Republicans made bank in favors for giving Democrats that one favor.
Democrats are just looking for the exact same treatment. Want to suspend the debt ceiling? There’s going to need to be a lot of bitter pills for Republicans to swallow. So Democrats are of the mindset, Republicans take it up the ass for that request like the Democrats did, or they are going to have to crack that whip on the Freedom Caucus which has in it some of the loudest members of the House who have everything to prove.
Like Republicans clearly forgot, you don’t ask for the golden goose free of charge. Trump wanted an unlimited credit card for all his plans, and Democrats are going to want a lot for that privilege. Unlimited credit card didn’t come cheap for Biden, it sure shit ain’t coming cheap for Trump.
Republicans don’t want to be stuck in this budget loop for the next two years? Agree to the original stop-gap and you all can come back in March to talk about a full budget. But oh no, Democrats aren’t doing this “pray I don’t alter the deal” 30 fucking hours before the Government shuts down. Republicans can play blame games all day long, but short end of the deal is, Republicans control the House. Republicans can get their house in order or start appeasing Democrats, but either way if Trump wants the Deluxe Package, he’s going to have to pay out the ass for it. Democrats had to, and they suffered a ton of backlash to those bitter pills. Or maybe Republicans don’t have the back bone to do the hard things in Congress.
- Yeas
And conservatives will agree, because Fox News will echo whatever they want.
More than just conservatives. Many people don’t question these “authorities”.
always so funny. when their in power they wipe their own asses yet when we are in power they refuse to wipe ours.
Same as it ever was.
Of course they do. And of course it didn’t work. Who is the majority party?
but also