Monday, June 29, 2009

The Final Vote Count

I'm not very worried about the roll call on Waxman-Markey. As with trade agreements, this is one of those votes that's incredibly tough for Members in competitive districts. Everyone is terrified that by next summer, the economy will be doing slightly better, but not better enough that people feel it, and that the improved economy will drive up gas prices again (which are already getting close to $3/gallon where I live). This leads to the 30 second add about how Jane Q. Congressmen voted to raise gas prices, force neighborhoods to put up solar panels, make traffic worse, take away your foot massager, and so on. No one wants to face that. So the White House probably wanted a final vote that was as close to 218-217 as they could get. Considering there are at least two nay votes from the left—DeFazio and Kucinich—Dems will probably have a 5-10 vote cushion once the bill comes out of conference.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Considering there are at least two nay votes from the left—DeFazio and Kucinich—Dems will probably have a 5-10 vote cushion once the bill comes out of conference.

Add Pete Stark and maybe Eric Massa (I don't have a full read on him yet). Otherwise, yeah, the Dem nays look like a roll call of the Blue Dog caucus.