The House voted 220 to 192 on Tuesday to denounce socialism “in all its forms,” with two members voting present. Every Republican voted yes. So did eight Democrats.
The eight were Reps. Kathy Castor of Florida, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Darren Soto of Florida and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire voted present.
Republican leaders scheduled the vote as a political messaging exercise ahead of the November elections. Democratic primary voters had just embraced a number of democratic socialist candidates, among them Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado, who both beat incumbent Democrats. Only a handful of sitting congressional Democrats call themselves democratic socialists, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York among them.
The resolution also restates Republican backing for the SAVE America Act, President Trump’s signature voting regulations bill. It has been stalled in the Senate for months and lacks even a simple majority there. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, linked the two issues, speaking of the Democratic Socialists of America. “Not only do we denounce socialism, but also the idea of people that aren’t American citizens voting in our elections, because that’s part of their platform,” he said.
A Procedural Scare
The vote almost never happened. Earlier on Tuesday, a handful of Republican hardliners voted no on the party-line procedural vote meant to set up the resolution and related measures for final passage. Their protest stemmed from a dispute over a short-term government funding bill.
Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez broke from their party and helped the procedural vote succeed. That left some of their Democratic colleagues in a tricky spot, and House Democratic leaders reacted the same day.
“The decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with the Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement with Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. “It is an action that necessitates a serious response, and we have asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take this up in short order.”
Democrats Object to the SAVE Act Language
Jeffries said he would vote against the measure because of the SAVE America Act language. House Resolution 1490, he said, “explicitly calls for enactment” of the bill, which he called “toxic voter suppression legislation” and “the top legislative priority of far-right extremists.”
Aguilar said before the vote that some Democrats had drafted a separate resolution condemning socialism without the SAVE America Act statement. “We’re capitalists,” the California Democrat said Tuesday morning. “But what Republicans are seeking to do here is to just add in another talking point where they can talk about the SAVE Act.”
