Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., took a page out of President Obama’s playbook as a state senator and voted “present” on the question of holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

It’s a tactic that Obama used to employ in the state legislature to avoid tough votes, but it won’t endear Lipinski to his caucus or the Republican conference. By voting “present,” Lipinski did less for Republicans than the 17 other Democrats who voted to cite Holder for contempt, and less for Holder than the approximately 100 Democrats who staged a mass walkout to protest the vote.

Lipinski, a pro-life Democrat, is no stranger to fighting his caucus, though. “More than two years have passed since I voted against the health care law because it is unaffordable, cuts Medicare, does not do enough to lower the soaring cost of health care, and would allow federal funding for abortion,” he said earlier today in a statement on the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling.