Two sources said that Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) raised his voice to Blunt at the RSC meeting, telling him, “We elect you to represent us, and you aren’t doing it.”
Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) filed an amendment with the House Rules Committee late Thursday, seeking to “strip egregious pork projects from [the bailout bill] and save taxpayers nearly half a trillion dollars,” according to a release from the lawmaker.
At a press conference, LaTourette said he is among 23 Republicans who are pushing the amendment, including House Financial Services ranking member Spencer Bachus (Ala.). Twenty of the 23 voted against the bailout bill on Monday, LaTourette said.
Bachus made the case for the amendment at a Rules Committee hearing on Thursday. Democrats disputed the GOP “pork” claims and Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) noted that an adoption of the amendment would force the rescue bill back to the Senate for another vote.
At press time it was unclear if the House Rules Committee would allow amendments to the bailout legislation.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), who voted against the bill on Monday and said he had returned to Washington a “soft yes,” disagreed with some of the Senate provisions inserted into the bill that he considered “pork.”
Hoekstra said he had spoken to Boehner earlier on Thursday and told him that the offending provisions needed to be removed.
And while Blunt said he believed the addition of the one-year fix to the AMT and billions in business tax breaks would be music to the ears of a great many Republicans, the top GOP vote-counter was not offering up any numbers.
Democrats were partially assuaged by the publicized vote-switching of some of their own members, including Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), but were still gun-shy on announcing their 140 yes votes were still all locked up.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said that a $1,000 credit for property taxes could attract some Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members. The Democratic whip also said raising the limit on federal deposit insurance “may have satisfied one or two people,” and aides indicated that the Senate’s decision to include mental health parity may win over some votes in the CBC and Progressive Caucus.
Asked about her level of confidence in her own members, Pelosi said: “We’re looking to see if we still have the [140] votes, and right now they’re coming in pretty well.”
Clyburn started whipping Wednesday night by sending out a questionnaire on the Senate bill. As of press time, they still had 75 unanswered inquiries.
“We may lose people,” Hoyer said. “And I have informed the Republican leadership that that may be the case. Because, frankly, the things that were added on and the way they were added on essentially appeal to Republicans. “
Hoyer added that despite the importance of the bill, Democratic leaders weren’t prepared to turn the screws on their members who aren’t supportive.
Michael O’Brien and Sam Youngman contributed to this article.
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