Letting the Bill Die to Spare Hoynes
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo delivers the bombshell admission that Hoynes is right about the ethanol tax credit, forcing a dramatic reconsideration of their political strategy.
Sam passionately argues for releasing their pressured senators and taking Hoynes off the hook, providing the practical path forward for Leo's moral concession.
Bartlet makes the decisive call to 'dump' the bill, sparing Hoynes while reserving his broader grievances, then collapses with exhaustion at the endless demands of leadership.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Quietly tense and watchful — assessing how the decision will translate into public messaging and personal conscience.
Toby stands in the private room with the President and Sam, silent in this exchange but present as a communications and moral anchor — absorbing the decision and its implications for presidential voice.
- • Protect the President's rhetorical integrity in the aftermath
- • Ensure any decision is defensible in public language
- • Words and tone will shape public interpretation of the sacrifice
- • Moral clarity matters, even when the administration must act pragmatically
Sober and weary, pragmatic rather than vindictive — focused on containing fallout rather than assigning theatrical blame.
Leo, isolated in his office, delivers the blunt political assessment — 'He's right, and we're wrong' — framing the administration's miscalculation and steering the President toward damage control rather than escalation.
- • Prevent needless institutional damage from a symbolic fight
- • Convince the President to choose the least harmful political option
- • Some personnel actions are off the table because of broader institutional risk
- • The administration must accept tactical losses to preserve strategic integrity
Anxious and anticipatory — braced to manage staff and political consequences once the decision is made.
Josh is present in the room with the President but does not speak in this specific exchange; his presence registers political concern and readiness to execute the tactical choice Sam proposes.
- • Be prepared to implement the chosen damage-control plan
- • Protect the political interests of the White House team
- • Quick, decisive staff action can blunt political fallout
- • The President's choices set the agenda for staff response
Urgent but pragmatic — focused on finding an immediate, politically survivable solution rather than indulging anger.
Sam physically holds the telephone receiver and offers the concrete tactical out — recalling three pressured senators, conceding a 53-47 loss to save the Vice President — translating analysis into actionable political strategy.
- • Remove the Vice President from disproportionate political blame
- • Contain and minimize media/narrative damage heading into subsequent days
- • Tactical concessions now can preserve longer-term political health
- • Staff can and should manage votes and optics to protect vulnerable figures
President Bartlet is on the phone in a private room; he shifts from anger at the Vice President to weary …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The corded mansion telephone receiver physically connects Leo and Bartlet. Sam holds it for Bartlet, making the conversation immediate and intimate; it functions as the conduit for the crucial admission and the tactical negotiation that follows, then is returned when Bartlet hangs up.
The ethanol tax credit provision (the bill) is the textual stake around which the argument revolves—Leo admits the administration misread the vote on this policy, and the team decides politically to 'dump' the bill rather than punish the Vice President for the miscalculation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Leo's Office is the remote command node from which Leo speaks; it frames his role as the sober institutionalist delivering an unwelcome briefing and counsel. The office's contained authority contrasts with the party room's emotional heat and underscores the distance between hard institutional judgment and personal grievance.
The NSC Evacuation Plane is referenced as Bartlet's immediate transit point and where he intends to place the next call to Hoynes; it functions as the narrative signifier of continuity-of-command and the president's mobility, tying the private decision to broader operational realities.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bartlet's initial discomfort about forcing Hoynes into a difficult position with the ethanol tax credit vote leads to Leo's eventual admission that Hoynes was right, prompting the decision to 'dump' the bill."
"Bartlet's initial discomfort about forcing Hoynes into a difficult position with the ethanol tax credit vote leads to Leo's eventual admission that Hoynes was right, prompting the decision to 'dump' the bill."
"Sam's insistence on making last-minute calls to sway the ethanol vote foreshadows his later passionate argument for releasing pressured senators and taking Hoynes off the hook."
"Sam's insistence on making last-minute calls to sway the ethanol vote foreshadows his later passionate argument for releasing pressured senators and taking Hoynes off the hook."
Key Dialogue
"LEO: "Mr. President, I got to tell you something and you won't like the sound of it.""
"LEO: "He's right, and we're wrong.""
"BARTLET: "I'm not done with Hoynes, but dump it.""