House Democrats Rescue GOP to Pass Debt Compromise

We were told to expect some resistance in the House to the debt ceiling compromise that would cut trillions from the budget, but Republicans in the lower chamber, helped by half the Democratic caucus (including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords), had no trouble passing the bill.

Ninety-five Democrats joined 174 Republicans Monday to OK the deal, which now heads to the Senate. Democrats there have been equally hostile to the measure, which is expected to impose stiff cuts on programs that benefit struggling Americans without raising revenues from wealthy Americans.

If you’d like to see whether your representative in the House supported the bill or not, click here.

Rep. Giffords, who survived a gunshot to the head seven months ago, returned to the floor to lend her support to the bill.

While half of the Democrats eventually voted to pass the compromise, they waited until the last minute, which was supposed to impress us or annoy the Republicans or something.

In the end, Speaker John Boehner managed to convince his members that they were getting a good deal, which is a bit like Oprah having to convince her audience to take home the free car. — PZS

New York Times:

Scores of Democrats initially held back from voting, to force Republicans to register their positions first. Then, as the time for voting wound down, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, returned to the floor for the first time since being shot in January and voted for the bill to jubilant applause and embraces from her colleagues. It provided an unexpected, unifying ending to a fierce standoff in the House.

The Senate, where approval is considered likely, is scheduled to vote at noon on Tuesday and then send the measure to Mr. Obama less than 12 hours before the time when the Treasury Department has said it could become unable to meet all of its financial obligations.

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