(Update) How they voted on the GOP’s Gimmicks-R-Us ‘cut, cap and balance’ amendment

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week, the Tea-Publican House voted 234-190 for the GOP's Gimmicks-R-Us "cut, cap and balance" amendment. As I pointed out at the time, "the vote did not even come close to the two-thirds majority vote required to pass a constitutional amendment in Congress. This was simply a symbolic vote for Tea-Publicans to feel good about themselves and to pander to their Tea Party fringe."

This exercise in pandering to the Tea Party fringe was completed this morning in the Senate by a vote of 51-46 on a motion to table this ridiculous measure. 49 Democrats and 2 Independents voted yes to table, and 46 Tea-Publicans voted no. Again, nowhere close to the two-thirds majority vote required to pass a constitutional amendment in the Senate was present. They never even got as far as voting for the measure.

Not voting were Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) — wait, what? Is he still running for president? McCain didn't vote for the touchstone of the Tea Party?

Now that Tea-Publicans have wasted yet another week on self-indulgent symbolic votes on their march towards the precipice of the coming GOPocalypse, do you think we can finally get down to the serious business of raising the federal debt ceiling to honor this nation's debts and not blow up the U.S. and world economy with the first default in U.S. history?

UPDATE: From Steve Benen at the Political Animal – Tick tock:

A few weeks ago, White House officials told congressional leaders that waiting to the last minute, or even the last week, for a debt-ceiling agreement wasn’t a viable option. The cutoff date — the date circled on the calendar as the day a deal must be complete in order to meet the deadline — was July 22.

That, as it turns out, happens to be today. And in case this isn’t obvious, the odds of wrapping up an agreement today aren’t especially good.

The Democratic-led Senate will be working through the weekend. The Republican-led House will take the weekend off.