D.C. school voucher bill passes House by 1 vote
The Detroit News reports:
Gephardt and Kucinich missed Tuesday night's 8:23 p.m. vote so they could participate in the 90-minute Democratic presidential debate at Morgan State University, which began at 8 p.m. Also attending the debate was Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., a voucher opponent who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, which sponsored the debate.
GOP leaders declined requests by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and the black caucus to reschedule the vote, Democratic aides said.
Gephardt campaign spokesman Erik Smith said Republican leaders "clearly" created the scheduling conflict in an effort to deplete the opponents' ranks. Opponents had nearly succeeded in killing the House measure Friday, but Norton's motion to strip the voucher funds from the legislation failed on a 203 to 203 tie.
"Look, this is a tie vote. ... They knew the (presidential) debate was tonight. They knew there would be a couple dozen (black caucus) members that wanted to attend," Smith said. "It's not rocket science. This is the way this Republican House leadership operates."
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