House Passes Bill... for New Churchill Bust

Democrats made a last-minute push to get an up-and-down vote on the Senate’s payroll tax bill this morning, only to have Republicans ignore them—and apparently even cut the C-SPAN feed. As Steny Hoyer called for the vote, speaker pro-tem Michael Fitzpatrick walked away. Hoyer kept yelling, and was about to hand off to Chris Van Hollen, when CSPAN’s sound and cameras cut off, ThinkProgress reports. C-SPAN tweeted afterward to say that it doesn’t control those cameras—“the Speaker of the House does.”

Still, never let it be said the House didn’t accomplish anything this week. Last night, John Boehner got through a measure commissioning a new bust of Winston Churchill, to replace one that Barack Obama returned to the British Embassy in 2009. ThinkProgress sees it as a “frivolous” gesture, while Gawker sees it as “the climax of a nearly three-year right-wing crusade against Barack Obama,” who they believe chucked the bust “in a fit of uppity anti-colonial rage.” But Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post thinks Boehner should be commended for reaching out to a critical ally. “Presidents come and go,” she points out. (More Winston Churchill stories.)