ICYMI: Democrat votes against Gosar amendment identical to his own bill to spurn him
California’s 49th District isn’t getting the representation it deserves in Congress because Mike Levin’s blatant hatred of Republicans is impacting his job performance.
In case you missed it, Mike Levin voted against his own renewable energy billjust because he doesn’t like the Republican who offered an amendment to put it in Democrats’ reconciliation package.
In Case You Missed It…
Democrat votes against Gosar amendment identical to his own bill to spurn him
Emily Brooks
Washington Examiner
September 10, 2021
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mike-levin-paul-gosar-amendment-reconciliation-bill
Democratic California Rep. Mike Levin voted against an amendment from Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar despite it being identical to his own bill.
The apparent move to spurn the controversial Republican demonstrates high tensions in a bitterly divided Congress that blocks bipartisan collaboration.
In a House Natural Resources Committee markup meeting on Democrats’ go-it-alone $3.5 trillion social spending reconciliation legislation on Sept. 2, Gosar offered an amendment to add the “Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act.” The act would promote the development of wind, solar, and geothermal energy on public lands.
Levin is the lead sponsor of identical legislation, which he introduced earlier this year.
In the previous Congress, Levin and Gosar co-sponsored the legislation, and it unanimously passed the House Natural Resources Committee.
But when introducing the legislation this year, Levin refused to list Gosar as a lead co-sponsor, telling The Hill his name “could be detrimental” to passing the legislation “given his support for insurrectionists who attacked our Capitol on Jan. 6.”
He took particular issue with Gosar describing Ashli Babbit, a rioter shot dead by a Capitol Police officer, as a “veteran wrapped in an American flag” who was “executed.”
“I know that in this Congress, my colleagues have attempted to make this a partisan issue, drawing lines in the sand on who can support what legislation and when,” Gosar said in the markup meeting while introducing his amendment. “However, this amendment today asks us to come together to support the policy.”
Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, the ranking member on the committee, noted Levin had raised the proposal as a stand-alone bill earlier this year.
Levin — along with every voting Democrat on the committee, including Chairman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, a co-sponsor of Levin’s bill this year — voted against the amendment.
No Democrat in the markup specifically cited disapproval of Gosar as a reason to vote against the bill. New York Democratic Rep. Alan Lowenthal said that while he thought the amendment was worthy, the “Build Back Batter Act” was not the vehicle it should be added to.
However, a spokesman for Levin told the Washington Examiner the congressman has already explained his position on the legislation and Gosar: “His position hasn’t changed.”
“Now, getting back to the gentleman from California,” Gosar said in the markup meeting. “Good process builds good policy builds good politics. If it takes a plethora of amendments to get that across — I have said it to my leadership, I am saying it to you now — is we’ve got to get back to a good process. Because if we don’t have good process, we will have bad policy. And we have seen the rules being manipulated right and left from Day One of this current congressional year.”
Natural Resources Committee Republicans taunted Levin about his “nay” vote in a tweet: “Did it hurt @RepMikeLevin? When you voted against your own bill just because Republicans supported it?”
This is not the first time in this Congress that Democrats have shown intense unwillingness to work with controversial Republicans.
In February, Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois forced a full floor vote on a post office naming bill — the type of legislation usually passed by unanimous consent — because it was sponsored by a Republican who voted to reject certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6 after rioters broke into the Capitol building.