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
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