SAVANNAH, Ga. – Subtropical storm Beryl crept Sunday toward the Southeast U.S.In August, most Republicans in the U.S. House voted to raise the nation’s debt limit.
On Wednesday, nearly all of them voted against giving President Obama permission to enact the legislation.
Likewise, most of the Democrats who opposed the debt increase last month supported it this time around.
The GOP-controlled House voted 232-166 to disapprove of letting Obama exercise his authority to raise what had been a $14.3 trillion borrowing cap. The effort was a “pointless exercise,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., because the Democratic Senate rejected consideration of the legislation last week. It would have to be approved by both houses and signed by Obama to become law.
The resolution of disapproval was over part of an August compromise among the House, Senate and Obama to increase the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion while shaving spending by a similar amount in the next decade. The resolution, which affected a $500 billion stage of the increase, was a protest vote of sorts, giving lawmakers the chance to disavow votes cast when they counted.
Three House members from Indiana who backed the debt increase last month voted against it: Mike Pence, R-6th; Larry Bucshon, R-8th; and Todd Young, R-9th.
Pence, who is running for governor, had earlier called the Budget Control Act “a modest but meaningful step in the direction of fiscal discipline and reform, and I welcome it.”
Matt Lloyd, Pence’s press secretary, said in an email Wednesday, “While Congressman Pence believes the Budget Control Act was a modest first step toward restoring fiscal discipline, today’s vote sends a clear message that it did not go nearly far enough.”
Reps. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, and Andre Carson, D-7th, had opposed the debt-limit increase but endorsed Obama’s authority to follow through on it.
Reps. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd; Dan Burton, R-5th; and Todd Rokita, R-4th, opposed increasing the debt ceiling both times, and Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, who is running for the Senate, favored raising it both times.
Stutzman was a co-sponsor of the resolution of disapproval and participated in the debate on the House floor.
“There’s a new crew in town,” he said about 87 GOP freshmen, including himself, who with other Republicans “are saying, ‘Stop the spending; stop the madness.’
“This is an opportunity for us to come together, both parties, and say let’s forget about the sins of the past, let’s pay those bills, but let’s not continue to spend the way that we’re spending today,” he said.
Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., replied, “There may be a new crew in town, but if this (resolution) were to pass, it would be a wrecking crew.”
In the August vote, Democrats split 95-95. This time, 181 supported letting Obama raise the debt limit, while five voted against the measure.
Republicans voted 174-66 to increase the borrowing limit in August but voted 228-5 Wednesday to bar the president from doing so.
