All of that fury, all of those Democrats in open rebellion, and it wasn’t even close. The tax cut deal breezed through the House of Representatives on a 277-148 vote, right after an 11th hour attempt by progressives to amend the estate tax portion of the bill – a protest that would have sent the legislation back to the Senate – was defeated by a narrower vote.
Here’s some idea of how massive this vote was. In 2001, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 – the first Bush tax cuts – passed the House on a 230-197 vote. In 2003, the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 – the second Bush tax cuts – was approved by a more Republican House by a 222-203 margin. A majority of Democrats voted for this compromise, 139-112. A majority of Republicans voted for it, 138-36.
I’ll grab the roll call when it’s posted, but if the pattern of the Senate vote holds here, the Democrats who backed this bill will, by and large, be the Democrats from relatively endangered districts and the defeated Democrats who are thinking of running again (Wisconsin’s Steve Kagen, defeated this year in a seat likely to be redistricted out of contention for Democrats, voted no).
UPDATE: Here’ s the roll call, and here are the votes I find interesting. The interesting ayes :
Democrats Jon Adler, Michael Arcuri, Melissa Bean, John Boccieri, Rick Boucher, Bobby Bright, Steve Driehaus, Brad Ellsworth, Bob Etheridge, Phil Hare, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Baron Hill, Paul Hodes, Ron Klein, Dan Maffei, Scott Murphy, Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak, Diana Titus. All casualties of 2010 who might not be done with politics.
The interesting nos :
Republicans Michele Bachmann, Jason Chaffetz, Pete Hoekstra, Connie Mack, Mike Pence and Danny Rehberg. All solid conservatives with either statewide or national ambitions.
