Congress Continues Playing Politics on Debt Limit

To the extreme dissatisfaction of House Democrats, House Republicans today brought up the text of the bill that Senator Harry Reid introduced in the Senate and defeated it to demonstrate that it does not have sufficient bipartisan support in the House to pass. However, it was brought up under a procedure that requires a two-thirds vote to pass, much more than the majority vote that is needed typically.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Drier (R-CA) said during floor debate this afternoon that House Republicans were doing this to demostrate that the Reid plan would not pass the House despite Senator Reid’s assertion that it would. The bill has not passed the Senate yet; a vote is expected in the wee hours overnight. It was introduced as a House bill and quickly moved to the floor.

Democrats pointed out that if the Boehner plan that narrowly passed the House yesterday had been brought up under the same procedure, it would not have passed either.

The upshot is that the two sides do not appear any closer to compromise than yesterday, as August 2 draws ever closer. In fact, the rhetoric seems to be heating up. Senator Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reportedly were going to meet with President Obama this afternoon.