This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) to a transportation, housing, and urban affairs bill that would have cut $10.5 billion from programs operated by the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

Neugebauer urged support for his amendment: “Our national debt is $13 trillion today. We are headed to $20 trillion. We are headed to having debt almost equal to 90 percent of our total economy….let’s give the American people a break. Let's give them their $10 billion back. A lot of people say, well, it's just $10 billion; but that's the problem around here. People don't take money seriously because it's not real money to them because we are charging it to our children and our grandchildren.”

Rep. John Olver (D-MA) urged opposition to the amendment: “As the amendment is written…it is a straight across-the-board amendment of a couple of billion dollars difference from the one that was offered by Mr. Culberson [an amendment which would have cut $12.4 billion from the bill] earlier and has been defeated by roll call vote in the last round of roll calls.” Earlier, Olver had argued against across-the-board cuts, saying: “…This is about the worst kind of amendment that you can have, because it provides no indication of priorities whatsoever. It just cuts everything in the whole government an equal percentage amount and gives no priority indication whatsoever.”

The House rejected the Neugebauer amendment by a vote of 177-247. 165 Republicans and 12 Democrats voted “yea.” 244 Democrats and 3 Republicans voted “nay.” As a result, the House rejected an amendment to transportation, housing, and urban affairs legislation that would have cut $10.5 billion from programs operated by the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.