The Johanns amendment failed 61-35.

Last week Senator Michael Johanns of Nebraska introduced an amendment to the FDA FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT that if passed, would have repealed the 1099 requirement in the new health care law for small businesses and would have used unused federal funds to pay for it.

Common sense? You betcha! Did it pass? Absolutely not.

61 Senators (40 Republicans, 21 Democrats) supported the amendment, 35 Democrat Senators opposed the amendment, and four Senators were absent (Brownback, Burr, Lieberman, Pryor); three of them would have supported the amendment. It needed 67 yeas to become apart of the legislation.

So what happened this time?

1. 31 Senators who opposed the Johanns amendment supported the Baucus amendment, a similar amendment that would have repealed the 1099 requirement for small buisnesses, but would not have paid for it - adding $19 billion to the debt.
2. The Johanns amendment would have empowered the OMB Director to slash $39 billion in appropriated spending, while the Baucus amendment did not. Senator Baucus even took to the Senate floor to denouce the Johanns amendment for that very reason.
3. It did not pass.