TPM:
House Republicans on Tuesday evening failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to pass a series of three partial government funding bills.
According to House rules, a 2/3 vote was needed to advance the Bill to the Senate.
The proposed legislation was anticipated to provide House Republicans with a credible way to paint Senate Democrats as uncompromising and obstructionist.
The three partial funding bills proposed by House Republican Leadership were to temporarily fund Veterans Affairs, Washington DC and National Parks and Museums.
So now they're voting on Bills that can't even pass the House.
Nice.
OK, Cantor smelled failure and marched forward:
After the vote, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told TPM that House GOP leadership knew the bills were going to fail.
"We were told that that's what they were going to do," Cantor said. "To employ some sort of scorched-earth strategy."
But there is a method to this madness:
A House Democratic aide told TPM that their side believes Republicans took the unusual procedural route because otherwise Democrats would have had a chance to put a clean spending bill on the floor, which they believe would pass. House leadership has refused to put a clean bill on the floor.
Therefore:
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told TPM that the House would bring the legislation up Wednesday under regular order, which would only require a majority vote.
Of course, that's where Harry Reid tells them to pound sand.
An anonymous Democtratic Legislator explains:
"They clearly know this isn’t going anywhere," the aide said after the vote. "This was solely a face-saving measure because the American people are blaming them for shutting down the government."
More here:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...