Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m a C-SPAN junkie and while it can be fun (fun being used its most odd sense), it can also make me want to rip through my television and give a good screaming to some of my least favorite people at the moment. Such a moment occurred on June 28th, when the Senate rejected cloture on the immigration bill. The 60 proof cloture vote has both pros and cons depending on your support or rejection of the bill to which it is being applied so while it should remain as part of the Senate rules it also stinks. Whether or not you are for or against a bill, it should be given the opportunity for an up or down vote. That was our position when it came to the judicial nominations just a few years ago and mine will not change. While those Senators who voted nay on the cloture, did so legally, I believe it was a morally cowardly vote for most of them. I cannot speak to the soul and mind of a politician but using federal rules to not allow a clear position on an issue reeks of politics, in its worse sense. The majority of the no votes came from the Republicans but if all Democrats vote yes along with the 12 republicans who did as well the limit of debate would have past. Voting no on the immigration bill is a sound position to take, I don’t agree with it, but that’s neither here or there, but not allowing a vote on the bill after so much debate and the Reid decision to kill the bill if the cloture did not pass the second time around caused my disappointment of the below Senators who voted against allowing a vote.
| Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bingaman (D-NM) Bond (R-MO) Brown (D-OH) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Corker (R-TN) |
Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Grassley (R-IA) Harkin (D-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Landrieu (D-LA) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) |
Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stabenow (D-MI) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Webb (D-VA) |
