In a private meeting, House Democrats voted on a nonbinding resolution this morning to reject President Obama’s tax deal in its current form.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon). Talking Points Memo said that a House aide called the resolution “a vote of no confidence” in the package.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will reportedly not bring the tax deal up for a floor vote, according to a report published Thursday in the Huffington Post. Pelosi will abide by her caucus’ rejection of the deal and will require that changes be made to the plan before she introduces it for a vote in the House.
In an interview with the HuffingtonPost, DeFazio said, “[Pelosi] was there, she heard the arguments, and I don’t believe that she is at all resistant to our position. She was not happy with the package as negotiated.”
In a statement following the caucus vote, Pelosi said, “We will continue discussions with the President and our Democrat and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote.”
“Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to create jobs and economic growth, to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and to do this in a fiscally sound way,” she added.
According to CNN, the vote comes after Vice President Biden told House Democrats that the deal would not go through if any new changes were introduced. President Obama also urged Congress to pass the bill in a press conference earlier this week, stating that he did not want middle-class American families to become collateral damage for the sake of politics.
“If I have to choose between having a protracted political battle on the one hand but those folks being hurt, or helping those folks and continuing to fight this political battle over the next two years, I will choose the latter,” he said at the time.
The vote was “nearly unanimous,” DeFazio told ABC’s “Top Line” webcast, according to The Hill. Given a choice of “take it or leave it,” DeFazio said, “We just said ‘leave it.'”