This vote determined the ground rules for the House's consideration of what's known as the rules package for the 110th Congress. Only after this resolution was agreed to could the House move to consider the rules package itself. Every two years when a new Congress meets for the first time members have to agree on what's known as a "rules package," the rules that guide lawmakers' conduct both on and off the House floor. It governs everything from how debate is conducted to what lawmakers can accept from lobbyists to what privileges are afforded to the minority party. The rules package must be agreed to before any other business is conducted, and it sets the tone for the entire two-year Congress. The rules package proposed by the Democrats for the 110th Congress codified many campaign promises, including reforms to the ethics rules, curtailing the ability of lawmakers to secretly slip provisions into bills that only benefit narrow interests and making it more difficult for Congress to pass bills that increase the deficit. This vote set the rules for how the 110th Congress rules package would be debated, that is how much floor time each side received to debate each section, as well as parliamentary logistics. All 232 Democrats voted for the measure, as well as three Republicans, and the measure passed with 195 Republican "noes." The rules for debate thus set, the House could then turn its attention to debating the rules package for the 110th Congress.