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This was no win for anybody:

Here is a breakdown of how the vote on the House spending bill went down:

• 196 Democrats voted to pass the bill

• 170 Republicans voted to pass the bill

• 34 Republicansrejected the bill

The debt ceiling was not raised despite Donald Trump’s demand for the cap to increase. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which has until midnight to pass the spending bill.

The bill that passed had a fair amount of important stuff stripped out, most notably the pediatric cancer funding.  But it also did not have the debt ceiling increase included, which was the Republicans’ way of trying to backdoor a cut in entitlements, and it’s what Trump wanted.  President Elon got more out of this than VP Trump.

Jeffries had 0 defections from his caucus in the final vote, which is a demonstration that his bloc is there to save Republicans’ asses if D’s get something for it.

I have to hand it to Ketamine’s Little Boy who Never Grew Up — he timed this one pretty well.  I think next time the Dems will be ready for it.  There’s a case to be made for Dems demanding more concessions on this one.

My main take-away is that Pastor Johnson is on his own the next time his caucus wants to shit can him, unless there’s some kind of major concession that D’s can wring out of him.   (Dems helped him keep his seat the last time his caucus wanted to defenestrate him.)  The January 2025 Speaker election is going to be quite a spectacle.

My Take on the Shutdown OutcomePost + Comments (69)

Just a quick post to point out why Jeffries was against whatever debt ceiling change that the R’s were going to propose.  As many of you have pointed out, it would be nice to get rid of the debt ceiling.  That’s not the proposal.    It’s a total shit sandwich, without the bread:

Reconciliation has a whole bunch of special rules, including that it isn’t subject to the filibuster in the Senate.

Also the last thing I saw said that Pastor Mike has cooked up some fantasmagorical three vote plan that requires cooperation of the Rules Committee, so he can bring a bill to the floor for a majority vote.  Remember that MyKevin packed Rules with fanatics, so it’s unlikely that they want to vote a bill out to the floor that isn’t pure artisanal right wing shit.  Also, the good Rev Speaker loses at least 30 of his caucus on any bill that isn’t naming a post office.  If something’s going to pass, it’s probably going to have to be under suspension, with Democratic votes.

This is the AnswerPost + Comments (152)

Yesterday, Rev. Speaker Mike put a piece of poison on the floor and dared his caucus to vote for it.

For political veterans, however, the most striking absence in the revised bill was the language that would have extended funding for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Program.

The program, named after a 10-year-old Virginia girl who died from an inoperable brain tumor in 2013, was something of a miracle to begin with. When it passed in 2014, the Obama administration and congressional Republicans had been at a standstill over federal spending. […]

But the funding needed to be extended. And the bill that the current crop of congressional leaders agreed to earlier this week did just that, devoting an estimated $190 million to the program through 2033. [,,,]

By December 19, the provision had been axed from the bill, after Musk went on an X rampage, tweeting that the bill was a Christmas tree that was antithetical to conservative, small-government ambitions and threatening the primary lawmakers who supported it.

Unlike a lot of the press and some posters on BlueSky, this is a political blog where we know what the House Clerk’s website is, and what it says.  Let’s look at yesterday’s roll call.  First, the part that a lot of folks are missing:

Just a reminder that this bill, like every other bill brought up recently (you can see them on the Clerk’s site), is brought up under suspension of the rules and requires a 2/3 majority.  That means the Democrats will have to support it, as they’ve been supporting the other bills that passed recently under suspension of the rules.

Now let’s look at the vote breakdown by party.

Dumbass Mike brought a bill to the floor that 38 of his members wouldn’t vote for.  I saw a quote somewhere that he has arrived at the Capitol this morning and promised more votes today.  Exciting!  This is the Congressional equivalent of reconnaissance by fire.

Those of you who live in Republican districts probably think that calling your Congressperson is a pointless gesture, but this might prove the exception to the rule. The link to the roll call lets you search for your rep and see how they voted.  If they voted for the bill, it would be worth asking why they don’t want to support kids with cancer.  If they voted against, call to congratulate them on their tough stance, and encourage them to stand firm.

If your rep is Marie Glusenkamp-Perez (D-WA-3) or Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), call them and ask whether there was a malfunction in the vote counting apparatus that caused them to vote for a bill stripped of funding for kids with cancer.

Anyway, my guess was that Elon would go to Mar-a-Lago, Trump would calm him down, and the original bill (or a very close facsimile) that was agreed between Pastor Mike and the Democrats would hit the floor again, pass, and everyone would go home.  But it looks to me like Trump is so enfeebled that he’s unable to keep Elon under control, so who the hell knows what’s going to happen next.  Meanwhile, ketamine’s favorite little boy who never grew up tweeted out support for the German neo-nazi party overnight.

Also, brief posting note:  this will probably be my last post for a couple of days and I have a Christmas trip tomorrow and need to prepare today.

A Closer Look at Yesterday’s FestivitiesPost + Comments (87)