House GOP Fails To Pass Partial Government Funding Bills
Those clowns can't to anything right.
House Republicans on Tuesday evening failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to pass a series of three partial government finding bills.
The three bills -- to fund veterans benefits, national parks and the District of Columbia -- were designed to increase pressure on Senate Democrats to resolve the government shutdown by making them take politically uncomfortable votes against funding popular government services.
The failure of the three bills -- a key portion of the House GOP's government shutdown strategy that emerged earlier in the day Tuesday -- adds additional uncertainty to a way out of the current impasse.
The vote on the veterans affairs bill was 264 to 165, on the District of Columbia bill was 265 to 163, and on the national parks and museums bill was 252 to 176. All three proposals needed a two thirds majority of the chamber to pass.
The failure of the three measures is an ironic twist in Congress's struggle with funding the government. The votes were designed as a trap for Democrats. House Republicans decided in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday afternoon that they would try to fund the government through piecemeal continuing resolutions.
The failure of the three resolutions are also specifically a defeat for Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), who took credit for the plan earlier on Tuesday, shortly after the House GOP announced that it was moving forward with the proposals.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/house-gop-fails-to-pass-partial-government-funding-bills
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