1990 October Grand Bargain Budget Vote

Striking a deal with House Speaker Tom Foley (D-WA) and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME), the compromise—which purported to raise taxes while strengthening spending limits for the government—was panned across the aisle by both Democrats and Republicans.

But most crucially, it was panned by one of the few congressional leaders who wasn't present in negotiations, a man locked in a tight reelection race down in Georgia, House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-GA).

Claiming that the deal would "Kill Jobs" "weaken the economy" while calling the tax increases "counterproductive" Gingrich sought to kill republican support for the compromise—seeking to place blame for the unpopular bill (unpopular due to its bipartisan nature) on the Democrats feet.

In this, so as to kill the bill (owing to it’s overall unpopularity with the American people), Gingrich seized on a mandate by the Democratic congress to President Bush—specifically that they would only whip their members to vote for the compromise (which many were loathed to do) if Bush and the Congressional GOP could wrangle a majority of the GOP conference to vote for it.

Following from this context, due to the intransigence of Gingrich, and loyal following the House Minority whip cultivated in the U.S. House GOP conference—even with Bush nationally claiming the bill was an important one to pass, and personally imploring multiple GOP congressmen to vote for it, unsuccessfully—President Bush was unable to convince a majority of the GOP conference to vote for it.

Seeing that the GOP wasn't moving forward with the promised majority of their caucus support, Democratic leaders then—after the vote opened—allowed their members to vote their conscience. In doing so, resulting in a resounding defeat for the compromise, and a stunning rebuke of George H.W. Bush by his party.

The president, due to being unable to convince his party to work with the Democrats, later ended up sining a budget bill that had more of the party's priorities. Casting blame for that bill's passage on the intransigence of the conference, and them killing this compromise.