On Agreeing to the Amendment: Amendment 2 to H CON RES 85

Number:
House Vote #189 [primary source: house.gov]
Date:
Apr 02, 2009 (111th Congress)
Result:
Failed
Bill:
H.Con.Res. 85 (111th): Setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2010 and including the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2009 and 2011 through 2014.
Introduced by Rep. John Spratt [D-SC5, 1983-2010] on March 27, 2009
Current Status: Passed House

This was a vote to approve or reject an amendment.

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Totals     Democrat     Republican
  Aye 111
 
 
25%
0 111
  No 322
 
 
74%
256 66
Not Voting 4
 
 
1%
2 2
Required: Simple Majority

Vote Details

Notes

Where is the Speaker’s vote?

According to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk.

What’s the difference between aye and yea?

There is no meaningful difference between aye and yea (and nay and no), but the terms are used in different sorts of votes based on Congress’s long tradition of parliamentary procedure. The House and Senate follow the U.S. Constitution strictly when it says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). The House sometimes operates under a special set of rules called the “Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union” (or “Committee of the Whole” for short), which is a sort of pseudo-committee that is made up of every congressman. During this mode of operation, the House uses the terms “aye” and “no” instead. (See the Rules of the House, Rule XX, and House Practice in the section Voting.)