Opinion | Partisan votes by Democrats on Rules Committee

The May 31 front-page article “Deal on debt limit clears its first hurdle” noted that the debt ceiling vote passed the House Rules Committee by a 7-6 vote and focused on how three strongly right-wing Republicans voted. The article did not mention that four of the no votes came from the Democrats on the committee, and that is why the vote was so close and the bill barely cleared the committee.

Earlier media reports indicated that it is a tradition in the Rules Committee for the minority party members to always vote against bills being proposed by the majority. When the four Democrats voted no, they were adhering to an us-vs.-them tradition, even though the bill was an agreement negotiated by the president of their own party, and the passage of the bill was needed to avert a crisis shutting down many programs liberal Democrats espouse.

Putting the standard partisan game ahead of the urgent need to cope with the crisis is a petty act by the four Democrats: Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon (Pa.), Joe Neguse (Colo.), Jim McGovern (Mass.) and Teresa Leger Fernandez (N.M.).

After voting no in committee, three of these Democrats — Scanlon, Neguse and Fernandez — voted for the bill in the House. What is the common sense and logic of this?

Michael Goldman, Arlington

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