By a vote of 226-202, the IMF-war supplemental has passed the House. The roll call will appear here in about an hour. Of note, 32 Democrats voted nay, and zero five Republicans voted in favor (some republicans must have switched at the end, because the C-SPAN screen was reading zero Republicans). Three members from each party did not vote.
The Progressive Caucus attempt to reform the IMF has come up about a dozen votes short. I now expect all the liberal policy analysts who admitted the IMF was flawed, but who still urged Congress to provide blank check IMF funding, to begin working furiously to apply pressure to reform the IMF.
Given what was at stake--increasing Progressive influence and ending the Washington Consensus--this is definitely disappointing. However, it is still impressive how close this effort came, that the Democratic leadership was delayed for as long as they were, and that President Obama had to eventually start whipping votes himself. While the desired outcome did not take place, this is still an advance for Progressive Caucus influence, and a sign that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Even though I definitely could have helped more, and even though this defeat is in no way the fault of the people who worked so hard to fight the supplemental, I am pretty sick of moral victories. Let's work to make sure there are none of those the rest of the year.
Update: Congress Matters has the list of Democratic "nay" votes, along with a handful of Republican "yea" votes that must have switched at the end.
STATE BLOGS
