Republican Redo: House Passes Temporary Spending Bill After Minor Tweak
On the second attempt in two days (and part an early morning), the House of Representatives narrowly passed the GOP’s continuing resolution just before 1:00 a.m. Friday morning after the Republican leadership was able to swing half of the Republican ‘nay’ votes to their favor by adding an amendment to strip $100 million from a federal loan program that funded the bankrupt Solyndra.
The razor thin vote was called by Rep. Charlie Bass at 12:49 a.m., passing 219-203, with 12 members not voting. Six Democrats joined 213 Republicans in supporting the measure.
On Wednesday evening, 48 Republicans, including 20 freshmen, voted with Democrats to bring down the vote on its first attempt.
But this time, about half of those Republicans voted back with the bulk of their party in favor of the bill.
The new offset would cut the remaining funds from the same government loan program that granted a $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt Solyndra solar company.
The bill now heads across the Capitol to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid says the bill will die a quick death Friday.
“I don’t think they will get any [Democratic votes] over here,” Reid, D-Nev., said. “This is not a high school game of I gotcha. We’re all willing to be reasonable but we’re not willing to vote unreasonably.”
House Speaker John Boehner, nevertheless, urged the Senate “to quickly pass this bill so we can send it to the president and keep our focus on the American people’s top priority: jobs.”
“This common-sense measure cuts spending for the second year in a row and protects our struggling economy from the uncertainty of a government shutdown. It provides immediate assistance to Americans impacted by natural disasters in a way that’s best for families and taxpayers. And it lets lawmakers continue the important work of removing government barriers to private-sector job growth,” Boehner said in a statement following the approval of the measure. “The Democratic-led Senate should pass it without delay.”
Two House Republicans seeking the GOP presidential nomination, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, missed the vote on the measure due to their attendance at a presidential debate in Orlando, Fla.