House Democrats Defeated the Republican Budget Bill
Update (4:15 PM): It looks like I got ahead of myself with this post. I confused the budget reconciliation bill scheduled for a vote today and the budget appropriations bill, which was the one discussed in the WaPo article. My apologies for the error. Thanks to Praxxus and Tom Hilton for pointing out the mistake.
As frequent readers know, I have been tracking how Congressman Richard Pombo has been attempting to stick a number of extraneous, contentious, and frankly environmentally rapacious provisions in the House budget reconciliation bill. If his provisions passed, they would have radically changed American environmental policy without any debate on the merits of the changes in the House. This stealth attack on the environment was on top of the blatant and inexcusably draconian cuts to food stamps that Richard Pombo voted to include in the budget bill.
Well today, thanks in large part to a united Democratic caucus, the House reconciliation bill was voted down 224-209. Although we cannot rest on our laurels, we must understand that today the Democrats in Congress, aided by a small number of Republican moderates, protected all Americans from Pombo’s multi-pronged attack. Today we slew the Republican hydra and thereby protected much of what we love about this country.
To all of those who claim that the Congressional Democrats aren’t worth a damn, I offer this victory as refutation.
posted by Matt @ 2:47 PM
7 Comments:
You should read more then just the headline in that WaPo article.
I think it's a little bit chickenshit to post a comment like the one above.
I read the entire WaPo article. And now I've re-read it. Provide some sort of commentary on what you think I missed, and I'll respond to it.
But the above comment is nothing more than verbal belligerence.
Matt,
This isn't the bill with the Pombo provision. That one (as Tom over at If I Ran the Zoo dug up) is a "Budget Reconciliation Bill," HR 4121. This was a "Budget Appropriations Bill," HR 3010.
A. Citizen,
A couple of points:
1) I'd appreciate it if people refrained from using excessively vulgar language on this blog. I know I sometimes curse a bit on the blog, but I try to keep it within certain bounds. I hope everyone will try to do the same.
2) I do not object to Republican voters, I object to the Republican leadership in Congress. Each of us must be allowed to vote our conscience.
As much as I disagree with Republican voters on a whole variety of issues, I think it's out of line to suggest that Republicans, as a class, are somehow bad people (or worse than stupid).
The Republican Congressional leadership, on the other hand, is patently corrupt and mendacious. We can, and I certainly do, fault them for this.
3) I agree with what you say in your second, third, penultimate, and last paragraphs. This blog is certainly an attempt in its own way to go out and make the news regarding Pombo and the race to unseat him.
Provide some sort of commentary on what you think I missed
I think you missed which bill the article was actually about. Sorry if you think that's chickenshit to point out.
The bill you did think it was talking about passed this morning, by the way.
Anon-
Look, not all of us work on the Hill. I assume Congressional staffers like yourself have crystal clear understandings of the budgeting process, I don't. I admit, I conflated the two bills in my mind, and therefore made an embarrassing error. I acknowledged the mistake and updated the diary as soon as I realized what I had done.
Furthermore, this isn't going to the be the last time I make a mistake. Sometimes I'll make small errors, other times (like yesterday) I will make huge ones. All I can promise is that I'll do my best to cop to, or otherwise correct, my mistakes once I realize what they are.
But you do nothing for me or my readership by simply affecting a hauteur and telling me I'm wrong unless you point to why or how I'm wrong. I called your first comment chickenshit because it was nothing more than invective. Your second comment was a lot more helpful. I hope the difference between the two is obvious.
You misspelled "apologies."
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