It appears that House conservatives are bucking GOP leadership, which — the Hill reports — does not have the votes to pass its Obama Lite transportation bill that would add tens of billions in stimulus spending. (See here and here.) This is very encouraging, but it is important to keep an eye on this one. As Daniel Horowitz explains at Red State, there is reason to worry about procedural shenanigans. That is, Boehner & Co. could try to split the bill into pieces that would allow members to claim they voted against the irresponsible parts and in favor of the good parts, which might be enough (with Democrats joining in on the irresponsible parts) to get all the pieces passed. The pieces could then be sewn together and sent to the Senate, after which the good parts will be sliced out in the eventual conference committee and we will be left with the boondoggle.
That would be fraudulent, but let’s hope things don’t go that way. So far, so good.