HR 2454, the "Cap and Tax" bill known as ACES was brought to the floor of the United States House of Representatives today. A 300 page amendment to the over 1,000 page bill was brought forward at 3:09 this morning and a final, official copy of the bill was not available to House members during debate on passage of the bill.

House Republicans repeatedly inquired about the whereabouts of a printed copy of the final bill and were rebuffed by the Democrat chair. In short, virtually no one had read the bill being considered for final passage.

Shortly before 6:30 PM CST, a roll call vote on final passage was called. The bill was passed by a vote of 219 – 212. 211 Democrats voted for passage with 43 Democrats voting no. 8 Republicans voted in favor of passage with 168 of them voting no. One Democrat didn’t vote and 2 Republicans didn’t vote.

The cap and trade bill will now move to the U. S. Senate for their consideration. If it passes there, it’s on its way to becoming law by the stroke of President Obama’s pen.

Far more Democrats voted against the bill than Republicans voted for it, which is telling in a broad sense when considered in light of the wishes of the American electorate – most of whom oppose this bill.

One could say that a lack of Republican unity was responsible for the bill’s passage. Had the tiny minority of Republican congressmen who voted in favor of the bill abstained, or voted no, the bill would have failed.