WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s idea to give Americans the same kind of health insurance as congressmen get didn’t sit nearly as well when Republicans offered him a chance to vote for it on Friday afternoon.

In the end, the famously loquacious New York Democrat had two words to say about letting all Americans into congressional-style health insurance: “Pass” and then, “No.” His final decision combined with 30 other “No” votes from Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to kill the proposal he’d advocated a day earlier.

Republicans had argued that the idea made sense, and said they’d been hearing from constituents well before Weiner brought it up. “People will say to us, ‘Why can’t we have the same thing you guys have?’” said U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga. of the amendment offered  by U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. “We ought to give everybody in this country an opportunity to get this.”

“I’d have to oppose this because it strikes the public plan,” responded Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., added that just letting people enroll in something like the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan, as if that “is going to be somehow better, is just a false assumption.”

The final vote was 31-28 against opening the multiple plans to everyday citizens.

The amendment and roll call tally can be found here.