This was one of a series of votes generated by procedural moves of the Republican minority to protest the decision of the Democratic majority to limit the number of amendments that could be offered to a series of spending bills the House was debating. Among those spending bills were one for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and another for the Department of Homeland Security.

Technically, this was a procedural vote on a motion to reconsider a previous decision of the House to move to an immediate vote on the resolution setting the terms for debating the bill that funded the Department of Homeland Security for the 2010 fiscal year.

It is routine practice in the House, after any vote, for the Speaker to declare, “without objection, the motion to reconsider (the vote) is laid upon the table” (or killed). According to the House Floor Procedural Manual, if no objection is raised to killing the motion to reconsider the previous vote, this eliminates the possibility that another vote can take place on the same matter. The Manual also notes that objection to reconsider the previous vote is often raised, and a motion is made to reconsider the previous vote, “when Members (usually minority Members) determine there is a need to slow down the legislative process.” That is what occurred here.

The motion was defeated by a vote of 172-238 along almost straight party lines. One hundred and sixty-nine Republicans and three Democrats voted “aye”. Two hundred and thirty-four Democrats and four Republicans voted “nay”. As a result, the previous vote was not reconsidered and the House moved immediately to vote on the resolution setting the terms for debating the bill providing funds for the Department of Homeland Security for the 2010 fiscal year. An indirect result was that the legislative process was delayed for a few minutes.