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Entire PA Delegation Votes For Murray-Ryan

Full CongresIt’s a Christmas miracle! The recent cycle of government shutdowns is over – at least for the next two years.

Every single member of Pennsylvania’s House delegation voted for the bill to fund governmental appropriations for fiscal 2014.

The budget deal, which was negotiated by Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), was announced on Tuesday. Combining sequester relief and deficit reduction, the deal would set discretionary spending levels for the next two years at $1.012 trillion and $1.014 trillion respectively.

The package passed by a final vote of 332 to 94. 62 of the dissenting votes came from Republicans, who wanted to make the sequester permanent, and 34 from Democrats, who wanted to deal to extend unemployment benefits.

The Pa. uniformity comes as a bit of a surprise. Only two congressmen, Reps. Dent and Fattah, had released statements of support prior to the vote.

“This agreement is nowhere near perfect. Nobody got all they wanted with this budget,” said Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-Allegheny). He has opposed most bipartisan budget bills in his first term. “That is the result of a functioning divided government designed with checks and balances.”

“I voted in favor of this compromise budget because I believe it is a small but important step in the right direction,” echoed Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Allegheny).

“As someone who never supported the sequester, I was pleased that this budget provides a significant reduction in sequestration levels for 2014 and 2015.”

The lack of dissent, though, could have consequences for some members of Congress. The PA chapter of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, for instance, denounced the deal, raising the spectre of primary challenges. Currently only Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Blair) faces a primary challenger in Art Halvorson.

The motion will now proceed to the Senate, which should take up the bill sometime next week.

3 Responses

  1. Rothfus goes from voting for the government shutdown to reaching across the isle. An amazing transformation. Next thing you know, Rothfus will be taking credit for Republicans approving the budget.

  2. A majority of Republicans in the House used common sense in approving the budget deal..The Tea Party and their cronies has learned that they are not running things and that their shutdown tactic was a failure. The Tea Party has had to abandon their hard line on the sequester, budget caps, and user fees (taxes). This shows that Republicans know it cannot tread the far right waters and expect to win elections.

  3. Yeah, Rothfus, Kelly, Barletta, et. al. betrayed their Tea Party base to vote for the compromise. Maybe they are more afraid of the general election than the primary…

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