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5:53 PM EST

Final Vote coming up after GOP motion to recommit fails.

Read up to the minute updates on Flap’s Twitter feed.

Update:

HR 1 Passes 244-188 with every GOP Member of the House voting NO.  Eleven Blue Dog Democrats voted Yes.

Flap will post the full roll call later.

Michelle Malkin has all of the pertinent links:

General debate on the bill has finished and amendments are next. Roll Call votes on amendments can be found here.

The Republican substitute bill is here. And, now is being debated on the House floor.

Good news!

But, don’t give up and Melt The Phones.

This is NOT a big deal but remember when they gave Presdent Bush crap when he walked in the wrong door?

It looks like President Obama hasn’t gotten acquainted to his White House surroundings. On the way back to the Oval Office Tuesday, the President approached a paned window, instead of the actual door — located a few feet to his right.

Doors didn’t open automatically for Obama’s predecessor either. While making a hasty exit from a 2005 press conference in Beijing, former President George W. Bush tugged on the handles of a door, only to find it locked.

Bush laughed off the blunder, but the pictures still live on as part of Bush’s lame duck legacy. However, there was little note taken of Obama’s rookie mistake.

Everyone makes minor D’oh mistakes but if you are suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) then……

So, Bush received an unfair rap. Just saying…….

Isn’t anyone watching these people?

Remember yesterday, Georgia Rep. Gingrey criticized Rush Limbaugh when talking to the Politico.

“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said. “I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.”

First thing on Rush’s radio show this morning, Gingrey came on and apologized. On Gingrey’s website the following is offered up:

Because of the high volume of phone calls and correspondence received by my office since the Politico article ran, I wanted to take a moment to speak directly to grassroots conservatives.  Let me assure you, I am one of you.  I believe I was sent to Washington to fight for and defend our traditional values of smaller government, lower taxes, a strong national defense, and the lives of the unborn.  In my six years in Washington, I have led the charge on many of these issues.  In fact, in 2008 The National Journal ranked me the #1 most conservative Member of the House of Representatives.

As long as I am in the Congress, I will continue to fight for and defend our sacred values.  I have actively opposed every bailout, every rebate check, every so called “stimulus.”  And on so many of these things, I see eye-to-eye with Rush Limbaugh.  Regardless of what yesterday’s headline may have read, I never told Rush to back off. I regret and apologize for the fact that my comments have offended and upset my fellow conservatives—that was not my intent.  I am also sorry to see that my comments in defense of our Republican Leadership read much harsher than they actually were intended, but I recognize it is my responsibility to clarify my own comments.

Now more than ever, we need to articulate a clear conservative message that distinguishes our values and our approach from those of liberal Democrats who are seeking to move our nation in the wrong direction. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience.  Everyday, millions and millions of Americans—myself included—turn on their radios and televisions to listen to what they have to say, and we are inspired by their words and by their determination.  At the end of the day, every member of the conservative movement, from our political commentators and thinkers to our elected officials, share an important and common purpose in advancing the cause of liberty, reigning in a bloated federal government, and defending our traditional family values.

Discussing the matter with Rush, Gingrey noted he had heard from a goodly number of his constituents on the matter.

Flap bets he has.

Rush accepted his apology.

Paul Krugman notwithstanding, Americans believe it is always better to cut taxes than increase government spending.

Paul Krugman, last year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for economics and a regular columnist for the New York Times, recently wrote that you should “write off anyone who asserts that it’s always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their money.”

If you follow that advice, you’ll be writing off a majority of Americans. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 53% say that it’s always better to cut taxes. Only 24% share Krugman’s views.

Republicans overwhelmingly say it’s always better to cut taxes, and so do 50% of those not affiliated with either major party. Twenty-three percent (23%) of unaffiliateds take the opposite view and agree with Krugman.

Democrats are evenly divided—38% say tax cuts are always better while 34% disagree.

Krugman is a little more in sync with public opinion when he asserts: “public spending rather than tax cuts should be the core of any stimulus plan.”

The poll finds:

• 34 % Agree
• 34 % Disagree
• 32% Not Sure

Then, there is another Krugman opinion: “it’s clear that when it comes to economic stimulus, public spending provides much more bang for the buck than tax cuts.”

• 31 % Agree
• 42 % Disagree

On all of the questions surveyed above, American voters under 30 are more likely to agree with Paul Krugman.

There certainly appears to be a disconnect between American voters and the Far Left ELITIST Krugman. Is it because American voters are not academics and live in the real world? 

Or do they simply have experience on how government spending can be wasteful and tax increases oppressive?

Take your pick…….