The House approved a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax rates on Wednesday night, with 19 Democrats joining all but one Republican.

With lawmakers about to leave Washington for a five-week recess, the House action amounts to little more than a campaign message. Both parties have jumped headfirst into the tax debate, a confidence reflected in the political votes the Democratic-controlled Senate and GOP-led House have taken in consecutive weeks.

Retiring Rep. Timothy Johnson (IL) was the Republican who voted “no” in the 256-171 final tally.

In a separate House vote, the GOP majority easily turned aside an attempt by Democrats to substitute a measure the Senate approved last week that would extend the rates only on annual family income up to $250,000. Nineteen Democrats — mostly members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition — voted against their party’s plan, which garnered no Republican votes.

Though both parties won support from an overwhelming majority of their members, the Democrats who crossed over to back the GOP plan underscored the sensitive politics of the tax question with the election looming. Many were Blue Dogs in tough reelection races, including Reps. Larry Kissell (N.C.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Jim Matheson (Utah). A Democrat running for Senate in Indiana, Rep. Joe Donnelly, also voted with the GOP.

While President Obama and Democrats have pushed to prevent a tax hike on the middle class and portrayed Republicans as patrons of the rich, GOP leaders argued that allowing taxes to rise on the wealthy and some small businesses would be, in the words of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), “a very big mistake” in a weak economy.

“The choice is clear: You either want growth or you want more taxes,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said before the vote.

Republicans have characterized their push to keep the rates in place for another year as a “bridge” to the comprehensive tax reform they plan to pursue in 2013. On Thursday, the House will vote on legislation setting up an expedited process for a tax overhaul next year, when Republicans hope they will have Mitt Romney in the White House and control of both chambers of Congress.

Yet, in a sign that Wednesday’s vote was more about message than substance, the House made no move to launch a formal House-Senate conference committee to resolve the differences between the bills, and there is little expectation that serious negotiations will take place before the election. The rates expire at the end of the year.

Democrats portrayed the Senate bill as uncontroversial, echoing the president in urging Congress to simply lock in a policy that was not in dispute.

The Senate vote also saw defections — Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted with Democrats, while Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) voted with Republicans.

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