Reply #36: nope [View All]

[onenote]

There is nothing in the Constitution relating to the origination of spending bills, so the assertion that "all bills related to spending are to originate in the Senate" is incorrect.

Moreover, while the Constitution specifies that "all bills for raising revenue shall originate" in the House, the House takes the position that this really means that all bills for raising and appropriating revenue must originate in the House. As a result, the House simply refuses to consider approps bills that originate in the Senate, and the Senate has all but given up trying to send such bills over to the House.

That being said, bigtree makes the proper point in response to the OP: while Pelosi enjoys the support of the Democratic caucus, that doesn't mean she can or will direct them to take actions that they don't support -- and its pretty clear that a significant number of Democrats in the House (certainly enough to forge a majority with repubs) are opposed to immediate defunding. This is hardly surprising since that is the view held by a majority of the public, according to most polls, and almost certainly is the majority view in the districts of a significant number of Democratic members of the House...members without whom the Democrats wouldn't control Congress and its committees, wouldn't be holding hearings on Gonzales, et al.