Most 'Welch letter' signatories vote for GOP debt limit bill

By Pete Kasperowicz - 05/31/11 08:03 PM ET

Most of the 114 Democratic signatories to an April letter asking for a clean debt ceiling increase voted in favor of the Republican bill to increase the ceiling by $2.4 trillion on Tuesday night, even though Democratic leaders encouraged Democrats to reject it.

The April letter, spearheaded by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), was signed by 114 Democrats, and of those, 75 ended up voting for the GOP bill.

House Democratic leaders such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) voted against the GOP bill, after charging that it was not a serious attempt to address the looming debt ceiling problem. In the end, 97 Democrats bucked their encouragement to vote against it.

Thirty-nine of the Welch letter signatories followed their leadership on the vote by voting against it: Reps. Joe Baca (Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Leonard Boswell (Iowa), Corrine Brown (Fla.), G.K. Butterfield (NC), Lois Capps (Calif.), Russ Carnahan (Mo.), David Cicilline (RI), Hansen Clarke (Mich.), John Conyers (Mich.), Jerry Costello (Ill.), Mark Critz (Pa.), Elijah Cummings (Md.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Ted Deutch (Fla.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Alcee Hastings (Fla.), Maurice Hinchey (NY), Jay Inslee (Wash.), Steve Israel (NY), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), Bill Keating (Mass.), John Lewis (Ga.), Gregory Meeks (NY), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Jared Polis (Colo.), Charles Rangel (NY), Laura Richardson (Calif.), Tim Ryan (Ohio), Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), David Scott (Ga.), Louise Slaughter (NY), Betty Sutton (Ohio), Mike Thompson (Calif.), and David Wu (Ore.).

Earlier in the day, Welch predicted that the controversial vote would split House Democrats, a prediction that proved accurate. While 97 Democrats supported it, 82 opposed it.