Incredible. Even with voter feedback at 100 to 1 against (source), 141 Democrats and 65 Republicans still voted for the bailout.
The fate of a controversial $700 billion financial bailout plan was in doubt Monday as a House vote turned against it.
The next steps were not immediately clear but supporters were scrambling to put it up for another vote.
What was supposed to be a 15-minute vote stretched past the half-hour mark as leadership scrambled for support. Investors who had been counting on the rescue plan sent the Dow Jones industrial average down as much as 700 points while watching the measure come up short of the necessary support, before rebounding slightly. The key stock reading was down more than 500 points.
The measure needs 218 votes for passage. Democrats voted 141 to 94 in favor of the plan, while Republicans voted 65 to 133 against. That left the measure with 206 votes for and 227 against.
Of course, they only need to slip in enough random pork to convince 12 representatives to switch their vote, so I’m not too optimistic that the bill will remain dead for long.
Update:
Here’s how Washington State’s Representatives voted (district map):
YES:
- District 2 – Rick Larsen (D)
- District 3 – Brian Baird (D)
- District 6 – Norm Dicks (D)
- District 7 – Jim McDermott (D)
- District 9 – Adam Smith (D)
NO:
- District 1 – Jay Inslee (D)
- District 4 – Doc Hastings (R)
- District 5 – Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R)
- District 8 – Dave Reichert (R)