Pelosi: We promised half, delivered more than half

Even before the final vote was tallied, Democratic House leaders blamed their Republican counterparts for the bailout package’s failure.

“Republicans have not delivered their votes,” Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said in the Speaker’s Lobby as the tally board showed the bill dying. “We promised half. We delivered more than half.”

{mosads}Democratic leaders knew going into Monday’s vote that they didn’t have a majority of votes within their 235-member caucus to pass the $700 billion package. But they thought they had an understanding with Republicans that each party would deliver at least a majority of its caucus to pass it.

That way, the unpopular measure could pass with a bare majority. And members on the left and right with philosophical objections could vote “no.” So could vulnerable members in tight races only a few weeks away, whose phones were ringing with the calls of angry constituents.

And they figured it was only fair — it was the Bush administration’s plan.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi – Photo by Benjamin J. Myers

“We have the majority on our side,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said shortly before the vote. “Hopefully, Republicans have a majority on their side.”

And Democratic leaders did bring a majority of their caucus — the 140 Democrats who voted yes were more than the 120 they felt they’d promised.

So Democrats were expecting about 100 Republicans to vote yes. The bill would have passed with 80 GOP votes.

But Republicans could muster only 65 “aye” votes.

Democrats were stunned and angry.

In a news conference after the vote, Hoyer said Republican leaders never gave him an exact number of their supporters, but “no one ever cautioned me not to bring the bill to the floor.”

Some Republicans scoffed at the idea that they or President Bush were supposed to pass the bill, and said the blame lies with Pelosi herself.

“You can’t lay this at the feet of Republican leadership,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), who voted no. “She got walloped. It’s almost irresponsible of her to have brought it to the floor.”

Republican leaders said the vote failed because Pelosi gave such a partisan speech on the floor just before the vote. They said it switched at least 12 votes, which is the number of switched votes it would have taken to pass the bill.

{mospagebreak}Rep. Eric Cantor (D-Va.) held up a copy of the speech at a news conference after the vote, saying, “Right here is the reason why this vote failed, and this is Speaker Pelosi’s speech that, frankly, struck the tone of partisanship that was inappropriate in this discussion.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) agreed that the bill would have passed if not for Pelosi’s “partisan speech.”

{mosads}In her speech, Pelosi talked about “the Bush Administration’s failed economic policies.” She said they were “built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality.”

But Democrats jumped to their Speaker’s defense.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who led the negotiating efforts on behalf of House Democrats, said he found that excuse insulting. He said Republicans were using it as a cover-up to the fact that they failed to deliver a majority of their conference’s vote, despite public pleas from Boehner and Bush.

“That is an allegation I would not have imputed to my Republican colleagues, that because someone hurt their feelings, they punished the country,” Frank said. “Give me those 12 people’s names and I will go talk uncharacteristically nice to them.”

The bailout vote capped more than a week of hand-wringing by Democrats, who worried about taking ownership of a proposal from a president they dislike and distrust to help an industry now about as popular as used-car salesmen and lobbyists.

A majority of the Democrats wound up voting for it, with members of all of the major caucuses adding votes. Those who voted for it said they’d been convinced that the risk of doing nothing was too great.

“I don’t like where we are, but we’re here,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.).

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), one of the most ardent opponents of the measure, said he saw little political cost for his Democratic colleagues who voted yes.

“I don’t criticize any of my colleagues for saying we have to have a bill and Bush will veto anything else,” Sherman said.

There were also plenty of “no” votes, especially from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. They’d had a contentious set of meetings Sunday with House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Frank.

“I didn’t see anyone moved,” said one attendee. Staffers for liberal members said that adding provisions allowing bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages would have brought on more liberal votes.

{mospagebreak}But liberals and CBC members didn’t make up anywhere near all of the 95 Democratic “no” votes.

Five committee chairmen also voted against the bill — Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Veterans’ Affairs panel Chairman Bob Filner (D-Calif.), acting ethics committee Chairman Gene Green (D-Texas), Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

So did Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), a member of leadership as assistant to the Speaker, along with two caucus chairmen, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joe Baca (D-Calif.) and CBC Chairwoman Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.).

{mosads}Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said that about half the Democratic whip team was opposed to the bill going into the vote.

“Imagine going to war and half your commanders and generals are not with you,” Gutierrez said.

As the vote started, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) bluntly said he was waiting to see how Republicans voted.

“If they don’t vote for it, I’m not going to vote for it,” Emanuel said. “This isn’t a Wall Street bailout. This is a George Bush bailout. There’s no reason for us to bail Bush out when they won’t vote for it.”

Blue Dog Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) voted no, saying the fee on Wall Street stock trades to pay for it should have been mandatory.

“We should stay another two or three weeks and figure it out,” Salazar said.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) criticized Democratic leadership for not allowing votes on amendments for the financial rescue bill and not moving the legislation through relevant committees first.

In a floor speech after the package was rejected, Kaptur said it was “a strange process that I hope I never see again.”