The legislation funding the economic stimulus package was developed in response to the severe economic downturn the country was experiencing. This was a vote on a motion to recommit (send back) the legislation to committee, with instructions to add language allowing for a tax deduction for the sales tax on new auto purchases and for the interest paid on new auto loans. Rep. Miller (R-MI), who made the motion, represents a district in Michigan in which a number of auto assembly plants and suppliers are located. It had been hit very hard by the economic crisis. It was estimated that the language that Miller proposed by added would have cost approximately thirteen billion dollars in federal revenue.

A “motion to recommit with instructions” is a procedural technique to modify or delay legislation. If the motion is successful, it sends the measure back to the committee that developed the bill and orders the committee to make specified changes before the measure can be sent back to the full House for reconsideration.

The vote on the motion failed by a vote of 186-244. One hundred and seventy-two Republicans and fourteen Democrats voted “aye”. Two hundred and forty Democrats and four Republicans voted “nay”. As a result, no language was added to the bill allowing for a tax deduction for the sales tax on new auto purchases and for the interest paid on new auto loans, and the House moved to a vote on passage of the economic stimulus package.