House Version of Reid’s Debt Bill Fails House 173-246

Democrats joined Republicans in voting down the House version of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s debt bill on Saturday.

In a 173 to 246 vote, 10 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against the bill.

In the pre-vote debate, a large part of Democrat commentary was in disagreement with the choice of rules under which the vote was being held. Under “suspension rule” 2/3rds majority was required for the bill to pass. It also limits debate and allows for no amendments. This rule set is intended to get a vote as quickly as possible.

Even if standard, simple-majority rules had been put in-play, the bill would have failed by a large margin.

Sen. Reid had spent much of Friday telling reporters that his bill was the only one that could pass both houses of Congress. So far, he has refused two offers by Senate Minority Leader McConnell to hold a vote on his bill in the Senate and now the House version of his bill has failed in the House.