When Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) went to the floor on Monday, he anticipated that 75 House Republicans would vote for the revamped financial rescue package.

But only 65 voted for it.

Needing a dozen members to change their minds, Democratic leaders gaveled the vote to a close in a stunning development that shook the Capitol and Wall Street.

One hundred thirty-three of 198 voting Republican lawmakers joined 95 Democrats to reject the $700 billion bill that a bipartisan group of leaders from both chambers crafted over the weekend.

The Republican side of the House was not frenzied during the unsuccessful vote, despite intense lobbying from President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Unlike the three-hour vote on the 2003 Medicare drug bill, House Republican leaders did not put much pressure on their rank-and-file members to back the rescue package.

However, sources said that Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, was told that his committee seat hung in the balance if he chose to vote against the bill. Bachus voted yes, calling it one of the most difficult votes he has ever cast.

When Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) asked Blunt on the House floor if he had five members who would switch, Blunt said he did, but he did not have the time to deliver them.

“This was one of those situations where nobody really wanted to do it on either side,” Blunt said on Monday.

All GOP leadership officials voted for the bill, except for Reps. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) and John Carter (Texas). But leaders didn’t strongly sell the controversial legislation.

During a closed-door meeting of members on Sunday night, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) referred to the package crafted by House and Senate leaders as a “crap sandwich” but said it was necessary to vote for it to save the economy from a potentially crippling economic crisis. During his floor speech on Monday, Boehner called the bill “awful” but necessary.

Conference politics also ran amok during the week as members jockeyed for position in anticipation of leadership races for the next Congress.

Leadership officials blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for the failure of the bill, claiming her floor address was filled with partisan barbs and forced some Republicans to vote no.

But other Republicans disagreed strongly with that assertion, which was mocked by Democrats as false and petty.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said the GOP leadership comments were untrue, asserting that House Republicans voted against the bill because of its contents.

“We’re not babies who suck our thumbs,” Bachmann said at a press conference after the vote.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee who has triggered speculation that he will mount a leadership bid, was one of the first members to publicly reject the revised rescue plan.

Hensarling appeared at the press conference with Bachmann, as well as other Republicans who voted no, including Reps. Scott Garrett (N.J.), Steve King (Iowa), Trent Franks (Ariz.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.).

Behind closed doors, sources said Hensarling was uncompromising on the cost of the bailout, and that led to a tense exchange with House Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

Boehner saw even his closest allies reject his pleas to support the bill — including McCotter, Reps. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and freshman Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whom Boehner tapped earlier in the year to head up the Republican Platform Committee.

“Boehner understands,” McCotter said, adding that the GOP leader knew members would have to vote their conscience.

Meanwhile, several members of Blunt’s whip team also rejected the bill.

Many of the top GOP committee members voted yes. Ranking members who backed the measure included Reps. Bachus, Tom Davis (Va.), David Dreier (Calif.), Vernon Ehlers (Mich.), Pete King (N.Y.), Jerry Lewis (Calif.), Jim McCrery (La.), Buck McKeon (Calif.) and Paul Ryan (Wis.).