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Dent Only PA Rep to Buck Party on Shutdown Showdown

Charlie-Dent
Rep. Charlie Dent

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Lehigh) Monday became the only member of Congress from Pennsylvania to vote against his or her party during the ongoing battle over funding the government.

After attempting to corral support for passing a clean continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded, Dent voted against the Republican majority to try and force a vote.

The government shut down at midnight.

7:15pm: The effort to use a procedural tactic to force a vote on a clean CR, without any provisions aimed at limiting Obamacare, failed 225-204. Only 6 Republicans including Dent broke ranks to vote with Democrats.

8:40pm: Dent followed his procedural opposition with a vote against the final GOP-backed CR. That resolution would have delayed the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, by one year. He was one of 12 Republicans to break ranks on that vote; 9 Democrats also voted against their party.

While trying to rally support among Republicans for a clean CR, Dent told the Morning Call that he told congressmen a third strike at Obamacare would not be successful in getting through the Senate and being signed by the President.

“We’ve launched two strikes, neither were successful, and I suspect a third one would likely not be successful either,” Dent said. “The hourglass is nearly empty and it’s time to get on with the business of funding the government and come back to fight another day.”

9:30pm: The Senate voted to strip the Obamacare language and sent a clean CR back to the House.

1:10am Tuesday: Finally, after the midnight deadline had passed and the government entered shutdown, House Republicans voted for a joint resolution that would bring House and Senate conferees into a negotiation – something Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has refused.

Dent was one of 9 GOP votes against the move toward a joint resolution, something critics have characterized as a Republican delay tactic. 7 Democrats voted with the GOP.

4 Responses

  1. Those guys need to wake up and listen to the people. We do not want Obamacare. We need men with backbone to stand firm against Obama bullies. The Repubs need to be united!!!! If they want to be re-elected they had better move to the right.

  2. Mr. Guzzardi – you should return those pieces of paper to Georgetown and Temple if you think a market-based solution that started at the Heritage Foundation is “Marxist/socialist”. If your degree was in Poli Sci, you should ask for a refund while you’re at it.

  3. Charlie Dent, a super nice and very smart guy, would not be the first Republican to “squish”. Pat Meehan. Mike Kelly. Jim Gerlach. GT Thompson Tim Murphy Lou Barletta Bill Shuster. — all “moderates’ which is the polite word for Republicans who vote with and support Democratic policies.

    If any of them votes like a Democrat and funds Obamacare, what are we to think?

    Obamacare nationalizes and socializes 1/6th of the economy. Obamacare is a quasi-Marxist/socialist policy giving government monopoly control of health care. This is the queen of all Democratic policies. “Moderate” is the polite word for Republicans who vote with and support Democratic policies.

    Obamacare is an historically unprecedented increase in the size and scope of government centralizes command and control of an essential service with politicians, bureaucrats and technocrats.

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