WASHINGTON — The biggest vote in the nation’s capital this week was one that didn’t take place.
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had intended to hold a vote for his “Plan B" counter offer to President Barack Obama’s most recent offer in the “fiscal cliff" negotiations Thursday. But Boehner pulled the legislation after concluding he lacked the votes needed for passage.
However, the House of Representatives did pass legislation that would replace sequestration’s mandatory cuts to the defense budget with cuts to discretionary spending. The Spending Reduction Act passed by a narrow 215-209 margin, with 21 Republicans joining 188 Democrats in opposing the all-Republican majority. Six members did not vote, while one, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, voted “present." The White House immediately announced that it would veto the measure in the unlikely event that it passes the Democrat-controlled Senate.
U.S. House vote
• Replace defense cuts with discretionary spending cuts
Walden (R) Y
Blumenauer (D) N
Bonamici (D) N
DeFazio (D) N
Schrader (D) N
Also Thursday, the House voted to approve the conference changes to the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides $633 billion in funding for the military for fiscal year 2013. The Senate quickly signed off on the new version, which reconciled the different versions of the bill passed by the two chambers. The House approved the conference committee’s alterations by a 315-107 vote, with 205 Republicans and 110 Democrats voting yes and 30 Republicans and 77 Democrats voting no.
U.S. House vote
• Conference changes to National Defense Authorization Act
Walden (R) Y
Blumenauer (D) N
Bonamici (D) Y
DeFazio (D) Y
Schrader (D) Y
On Wednesday, the House easily passed the Government Employee Accountability Act, which gives government agencies the ability to dismiss federal employees who waste money. The bill came in response to last summer’s scandal over spending by the General Services Administration at a conference in Las Vegas. Photographs surfaced of one senior GSA employee drinking wine in a hot tub; he was later put on administrative leave with pay after the agency said it lacked the ability to fire him.
The measure passed 402-2, with Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Jim Moran, D-Va., voting against it.
U.S. House vote
• Government Employee Accountability Act
Walden (R) Y
Blumenauer (D) Y
Bonamici (D) Y
DeFazio (D) Y
Schrader (D) Y
— Andrew Clevenger, The Bulletin
