This was a vote on a motion to recommit with instructions (on a school lunch and child nutrition bill) that would have required all employees of child care operations receiving funding under the bill to submit to criminal background checks. The motion to recommit also would have eliminated a provision in the bill that allowed the Agriculture Department to regulate the prices of paid school lunches for children with incomes over 185% of the federal poverty level.

A motion to recommit with instructions is the minority's opportunity to torpedo or significantly change a bill before a final up-or-down vote on the measure. If successful, the motion sends the legislation back to committee with instructions to amend the legislation as specified.

The motion to recommit also would have eliminated a provision in the bill that allowed the Agriculture Department to regulate the prices of paid school lunches (as opposed to free school lunches) for children with incomes over 185% of the federal poverty level.

Rep. John Kline (R-MN) urged support for the Republican motion to recommit: “Allowing the federal government to create price mandates is a dangerous precedent and should not be set. By approving this motion to recommit, we can block this harmful tax on working families. We have thoroughly debated the broader objections to this legislation today, arguing against the spending and mandate, but that is not the debate we're having now. This motion to recommit is a modest pair of corrections that will make the bill better. It will make our children safer and protect working families, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage.”

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) argued that Republicans offered this motion to recommit simply to kill the bill. (Since this vote occurred at the end of a congressional session, the Senate would likely not have had time to take up the bill if the House were to amend it. If both the Senate and the House of Representatives do not pass a bill by the end of a congressional session, it automatically dies.) Miller contended: “They [the Republicans] opposed this legislation even though it passed unanimously on the floor of the Senate…they know that we're in the last days of this session, and if they can attach something to this legislation, they can kill this bill. They can kill the years of hard work that have gone into this legislation…”

The House rejected this motion to recommit by a vote of 200-221. 170 Republicans and 30 Democrats voted “yea.” 220 Democrats –including a majority of progressives – voted “nay.” As a result, the House rejected a motion to recommit on a school lunch and child nutrition bill. If the motion had passed, it would have required all employees of child care operations receiving funding under the bill to submit to criminal background checks. The motion to recommit also would have eliminated a provision in the bill that allowed the Agriculture Department to regulate the prices of paid school lunches for children with incomes over 185% of the federal poverty level.