Republicans needed Democratic votes
So the House has now officially passed the FY2011 funding bill to keep government open and prevent a federal shutdown. The final vote totals:
Republicans: 179 Yes, 59 No
Democrats: 81 Yes, 108 No
Total: 260 Yes, 167 No
As you can see, Republicans needed Democrats to get the bill passed. It takes 218 votes to pass legislation in the House, and the GOP delivered just 179 votes. Without at least 39 Democrats, it would not have passed. In the end 81 Democrats voted for it.
One final wonky point about how this legislation actually will impact spending levels. Ezra Klein points to a new CBO analysis showing that while the spending compromise doesn't actually reduce outlays in FY2011, it will reduce somewhere between $20 and $25 billion in spending over the next decade. (That's a cumulative total.) Ezra explains the arcane distinction between budget authority and actual outlays, but the bottom-line is that in terms of money out the door in FY2011, more will be spent under this bill than was actually spent in FY2010, and virtually the same amount will be spent as would have been spent had they preserved the FY10 levels of budget authority. So the GOP did win a cut in baseline budget authority, but not actual spending in FY11.
Update: Here's a question: If tea party Republicans won't even vote for compromises negotiated by their leadership, what possible relevance do they have to the process of reaching an agreement in the first place? If neither Boehner nor Democrats need their vote to move legislation forward, haven't they just sidelined themselves into irrelevancy?
Update: Another point: The next time John Boehner says he can't do a deal without the support of 218 Republicans, people should remember this vote, because he'll be bluffing.