Yesterday Congress voted on H. Res. 1608 and H. Res. 1609.
For H. Res. 1608 Democrats needed 9 more votes and 7 more votes for H. Res. 1609.
My understanding is the vote is essentially backwards because if you vote yes it gets sent back to committee and then the bill will die.
You can view the official results here:
- https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024490 (H. Res. 1608)
- https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024491 (H. Res. 1609)
Here is the list of the Democrats who were absent.
- Earl Blumenauer
- Jamaal Bowman
- Jasmine Crockett
- Henry Cuellar
- Dwight Evans
- Lizzie Fletcher
- Ruben Gallego
- Jimmy Gomez
- Raúl M. Grijalva
- Ted Lieu
- Kevin Mullin
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
- Katie Porter
- Mikie Sherrill
- Eric Swalwell
- Jennifer Wexton
Don’t you say "present’ if you’re not voting and “not voting” is if you’re not there? I’m not positive, looking for clarification.
Yes. If you click the link the 4 results are yay, nay, present, not voting. I think I recall this happening during Mccarthy’s run for speaker. I think present adds to the total voting affecting what qualifies as majority.
I could also be wildly fucking wrong.
They need to have ethics investigations into each one of these.
To vote against sunshine you are hiding something dark.
I’m shocked about Katie Porter. Why would she not vote?
My guess is that these people were simply absent from the vote. If they scheduled the vote for an impractical time that would explain most of this.
Difficult to find much information but from what I gathered, “not voting” equals abstaining, not absent, but I am not certain. I always thought absent was recorded as absent.
I am having a time trying to find the definitions of and how votes are recorded for the various responses/reasons. Only yes/yay, nay, and present(abstain) are mentioned specifically in my very limited search.
What are these 16 hiding?
Indeed. Their constituents should all take notice, but I won’t hold my breath.
Can’t speak for the others but I know I had read that Jennifer Wexton has a terminal illness (she cannot even speak anymore and did not run for reelection). I’d assume that’s probably why she didn’t vote
Why didn’t she resign and let somebody actually capable of representing constituents fill her seat?
House seats don’t do governor appointment like senate seats (nor would you want Glenn Younkin to make an appointment). They are just vacant until a special election. She’s been able to keep up for a while - even fairly recently - from what I had seen (using text to speech to deliver speeches/interviews and the like). I’m not sure what her current state looks like now though
Suhas Subramanyam won the seat this year, someone else will fill in fact fill the seat soon enough
That’s weird. I’d expect Bowman, Gallego, Lieu, Porter, and Swalwell all to be easy votes to release. At least. There’s probably a few I’m missing.
Cuellar is currently under indictment. I’m not surprised.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/03/politics/henry-cuellar-indictment-doj/index.html
Swalwell is a shameless corporate shill and happy to play the “oops not enough votes” fall guy for a failed vote.
The list surprised me too! I thought they were progressive people. I hope we can get more information on what their reasons are.
Ted Lieu? And Katie Porter? For real, I thought they were was both one of the good ones. I will keep an eye out for whatever they as a justification for this, because it better be pretty fuckin’ good.
It seems more than reasonable to me to assume those on the list are either corrupt in some way, or sympathetic to corruption. What else are we to make of such a dereliction of duty to the people they represent?
This should have been easy to vote to release for anyone that isn’t afraid of a little sunshine being shone on things.
Eta: fuck fascists, and fuck their enablers.
My assumption for those who didn’t vote is that they were not in DC at the time.
Now why they were not in DC should be the focus. For example did the speaker pull some shenanigans? Did the representative attend something that felt was more important?
I’m not going to justify the action, but I’m curious if they put out a statement to try and explain it. I think we all know political speak and can see through it.
The NC GOP state congress has been infamous in the past about doing things like that to try and pass their bills. Secret votings or waiting until enough Democrats were literally out of the building before having a vote. Rhetorical: why do Republicans seem to need to cheat in anything they do?
Why assume they had your best interests at heart but just oops’d or double-booked or whatever else, instead of demanding they answer for letting you down? This is what the people are supposed to expect of their representatives. 7 votes would have made the difference and 16 dems failed America when people obviously thought at least some of them would have fallen on the right side of this vote.
Demand better from these people, and let you disappointment be heard when they fail you. It’s ok to do that, and important if we want to make progress. Making preemptive excuses for people who failed to do their job on our behalf is self-defeating.
Because a number of them have a good track record.
It’s not a free pass and I’ll likely still criticize them, but I’m willing to give them a moment to explain.
Also, none of these representatives are my representative, my representative did accurately represent me. So for others, I’ll give them a moment to explain.
Good on your representatives. For those whose missed the vote, I’d think the ask would be more along the lines of “Explain why you let us down,” rather than “Was it because (insert excuse the politician didn’t even have to think of here) that you missed this vote?” When someone you are depending on lets you down, that’s how you start a meaningful conversation about fixing things.
Edit: and this is extra important when the vote is about ferreting out corruption
Before I go on an attack on anyone I’d like to know what the actual bill said. I can read the title, but it’s the text of the bill that’s important, and it’s not showing on Congress.gov. What’s really odd is the split between more progressive members who normally would side together. Has to be more than “these members have something to hide”.
Yes. I’d absolutely want to know what’s in the fat before condemning anyone yet.
Agreed here. Grijalva is a standout example here, one of the few members of Congress that has been there a long time and hasn’t made a massive fortune from insider knowledge.
Doubt. They can step forward and say otherwise, but it’s incumbent on the people they represent to hold them accountable unless and until they do so.
Edit: go read about it. Seriously. I am not sure why anyone would give a Congresscritter the benefit of the doubt. We don’t owe them that. They owe us representation and we need to demand accountability. That’s how democracy works. People understand the whole power of government backwards, I swear.
Reference, nothing to hint of nefarious “other shenanigans” or whatever, so it’s a choice to leap to that justification: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-vote-gaetz-ethics-investigation-report-released/story?id=116495144
Anyone who is able to get themselves elected to office should under no circumstances be allowed to lead. They’re all corrupt. Every, single, one of them. It’s not a result of being in power, it’s a requirement.
Why is anyone surprised?
This is what Democrats do when they are presented with the opportunity to do the right thing: they shirk.
They wait for the perfect choice. They’re like the incel looking for the perfect companion and pass up opportunities with what is right in front of them.
Traitors to the American people.
You’re supposed to know who your representative is, but I find that if you want others to do things you make it easier for them. These should have their constituents listed next to their names every time.
Here are the 20 US House Representatives sorted by state and then by district:
- Arizona
- Ruben Gallego - 3rd congressional district
- Raúl M. Grijalva - 7th congressional district
California
- Jimmy Gomez - 34th congression1. al district
- Ted Lieu - 36th congressional district
- Katie Porter - 45th congressional district
- Eric Swalwell - 14th congressional district
- Kevin Mullin - 15th congressional district
New Jersey
- Mikie Sherrill - 11th congressional district
New York
- Jamaal Bowman - 16th congressional district
Oregon
- Earl Blumenauer - 3rd congressional district
Pennsylvania
- Dwight Evans - 3rd congressional district
Texas
- Jasmine Crockett - 30th congressional district
- Lizzie Fletcher - 7th congressional district
- Henry Cuellar - 28th congressional district
Virginia
- Jennifer Wexton - 10th congressional district
Washington
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez - 3rd congressional district
To find more information about your representatives, you can visit the official House of Representatives website.
Arizona
- Ruben Gallego - 3rd congressional district
- Raúl M. Grijalva - 7th congressional district
California
- Jimmy Gomez - 34th congressionial district
- Ted Lieu - 36th congressional district
- Katie Porter - 45th congressional district
- Eric Swalwell - 14th congressional district
- Kevin Mullin - 15th congressional district
New Jersey
- Mikie Sherrill - 11th congressional district
New York
- Jamaal Bowman - 16th congressional district
Oregon
- Earl Blumenauer - 3rd congressional district
Pennsylvania
- Dwight Evans - 3rd congressional district
Texas
- Jasmine Crockett - 30th congressional district
- Lizzie Fletcher - 7th congressional district
- Henry Cuellar - 28th congressional district
Virginia
- Jennifer Wexton - 10th congressional district
Washington
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez - 3rd congressional district
Simplest explanation is they’re plants.
Second simplest explanation is blackmail.
Remember - back when he was still the appointee, MTG threatened to release the dirty secrets of anyone who exposed him.
It’s safe to assume that that threat still stands, and these are the Democrats who bowed to it.
Honestly she should release it anyway if she has anything/
Fucking pieces of shit. It’s as if the ruling class is -gasp- all in it for the same end goal and we just have the illusion of choice to keep us in line.
Earl Blumenauer Oregon’s 3rd congressional district since 1996.
Jamaal Bowman New York’s 16th congressional district since 2021.
Jasmine Crockett Texas’s 30th congressional district since January 2023.
Henry Cuellar Texas’s 28th congressional district since 2005.
Dwight Evans Pennsylvania’s 203rd district for over thirty-five years.
Lizzie Fletcher Texas’s 7th congressional district since 2019.
Ruben Gallego Arizona’s 3rd congressional district since 2015.
Jimmy Gomez California’s 34th congressional district since 2017.
Raúl M. Grijalva Arizona’s 7th congressional district since 2023 and Arizona’s 3rd congressional district from 2003 to 2023.
Ted Lieu California’s 36th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2023.
Kevin Mullin California’s 15th congressional district since 2023.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Washington’s 3rd congressional district since 2023.
Katie Porter California 47th congressional district since 2023.
Mikie Sherrill New Jersey’s 11th congressional district since 2019.
Eric Swalwell California’s 14th congressional district since 2023.
Jennifer Wexton Virginia’s 10th congressional district since 2019.
