The flagrant and merely politically trite politics that folks clearly despise is evident in the House of Representatives if any reasonable person looks at the facts. I have compiled the pertinent facts with links to the official House of Representatives site and the U.S. Senate site. If you want your politicians to act different you need to vote different. If you keep acting the same you will get the same result. Know the facts then, base your opinions on the facts not visa-versa. We will all benefit from informed voters.
The House of Representatives passed HR 3630 on December 13.
224 Republicans voted for it.
14 Republicans voted against it.
10 Democrats voted for it.
179 Democrats voted against it.
3 Republicans and 3 Democrats did not vote
93% Republicans voted for it and 5% Democrats voted for it – Why?
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll923.xml
Besides Payroll Tax Reduction, Unemployment Insurance Extension and the Medicare “Doc fix” I counted over 100 provisions not in any way related to these 3 issues. Other issues include EPA, flood insurance, education, drug testing, housing, highway, FCC provisions and oh yes, the Keystone pipeline. This “poison pill” is what Republicans used to call “earmarks”. Why do you think the Democrats did not go for it?
The Senate bill was a fairly “clean” bill with only the original three issues and the Keystone pipeline.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r112:FLD001:S08749
Harry Reid Sponsor, Mitch McConnell Cosponsor – Number: S.Amdt. 1465
89 yeas, 10 nays, and 1 no vote
7 republican nays, 2 democrat nays, 1 independent nays – as close to unanimous as it gets
If the House of Representatives could bring itself to write a bill like the Senate’s bill this whole thing would have been resolved a long time ago.