Dems call GOP’s bluff, force House Republicans to vote down their own budget

[Jimaz]

Dems call GOP’s bluff, force House Republicans to vote down their own budget

House Republicans scrambled Friday to vote down their own extremely conservative budget after Democrats called their bluff and withheld opposition, forcing GOP lawmakers to defeat the bill themselves.

The proposal, put forth by the Republican Study Committee, was a more extreme alternative to the plan offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan [[R-WI). It sought to make massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare while providing even larger tax breaks for high income earners.

A proposal like that would ordinarily have no chance of passing, typically earning total opposition from Democrats and dissent from enough Republicans. Yet voting on it would serve to please the GOP's right flank, while passage would tar the party with seeking to gut America's social safety net.

But, far from unified opposition, a total of 172 Democrats voted "present." That shocked Republicans, forcing some of them to flip their "yes" votes to "no."...

Pretty clever. If that doesn't shine a glaring spotlight on GOP disingenuity nothing will.

[Ray1936]

Republicans, Democrats, Independent, whatever. All politicians SUCK.

[ghettopalmetto]

That's not quite what the Post is reporting:

All but four Republicans voted for Ryan’s 2012 budget blueprint, and every Democrat present voted against it, for a final tally of 235 to 193.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...y.html?hpid=z1

[lilpup]

^^ That's a later vote on a less extreme budget proposal, gp.

[Jimaz]

^^ That's a later vote on a less extreme budget proposal, gp.

Correct. From the OP link:

The proposal, put forth by the Republican Study Committee, was a more extreme alternative to the plan offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan [[R-WI).

The salient point is that the GOP has been proposing legislation so radical that even they themselves believe the country needs to be protected from it.

[oladub]

Wrong. the Republican budget did pass the House along party lines with only four Republicans, including Ron Paul, voting with Democrats. This article is only about the vote on Amendment #3 in which the more Tea Party part of the Republican party challenged the mainstream Republican party and lost.

[Jimaz]

Wrong. the Republican budget did pass the House along party lines with only four Republicans, including Ron Paul, voting with Democrats. This article is only about the vote on Amendment #3 in which the more Tea Party part of the Republican party challenged the mainstream Republican party and lost.

Compromise it whichever way you can but the point remains that the GOP was forced to vote against its own proposal simply because it was too radical for even their own already too radical stance. That stands.

[oladub]

Compromise it whichever way you can but the point remains that the GOP was forced to vote against its own proposal simply because it was too radical for even their own already too radical stance. That stands.

No, some insurgent Republicans tried to strengthen their bill and failed in that but went on to pass the original bill 253-193. Here is a summary of the failed amendment. To my surprise, it included cuts to the military and other national security.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Republicans, Democrats, Independent, whatever. All politicians SUCK.

Amen. Wonder what it will take to wake up the majority of Americans to this fact.

[old guy]

See, they've got the whole system so messed up that even when they do vote on something, nobody can say with absolute certainty what the outcome was or who was responsible for what. That's exactly the kind of job I'm looking for.

[Papasito]

Maybe with the clear warning America's deficits will not go un noticed in the global market over the last couple of days, Policitians will realize 60b here and 20b there mean nothing when you're trillions in the hole.....