When a german party triggers a Zählappell, or parliamentary roll call, it is serious business. As a television commentator recently joked, “They will haul MPs out of bed—usually their own.” On March 18th the Christian Democrats (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens scheduled a Zählappell for an emergency session of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament. At stake was the biggest fiscal expansion in Germany’s post-war history, meant to upgrade its creaking infrastructure and rearm its military to face the Russian threat.