After an overnight debate over Iraq in the Senate, the Republican minority still refused to allow an up-or-down vote on the Levin-Reed amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that would establish a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq. The vote was 52-47 in favor of cutting off debate and moving to a vote, 8 votes short of the 60-vote threshold Senate Republicans are insisting on. The Democratic caucus was united behind the vote (except for independent Joe Lieberman and Tim Johnson who is still recovering from his stroke) and 4 Republicans joined them, including Maine Senator Susan Collins (though she supported a simple-majority vote, she said she would opposed the plan if it actually came to that).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted against it, but only for procedural reasons allowing him to bring the measure up again. He also announced that until the Republicans quit their obstructionist tactics, he would not allow a vote on any other Iraq-related amendment nor will he allow a vote on the entire 2008 defense authorization bill. It's great to see "Give 'em Hell" Harry is living up to his name and not letting Republicans off the hook for this.
2 comments:
What is the difference between a President lying to send the nation to war, and the GOP Senate standing in the way of bringing our troops home?
NOTHING!
Both are self-supporting illegal obstructionists! The GOP Senate members are holding our troops hostage in a hostile an deadly land for partisan POLITICAL reasons at HOME! Blood of loyal soldiers spills in the sands of Iraq every day because disconnect law makers are too cowardly to do the job they were elected to do. It is time to impeach, as the Constitution requires.
If this Congressional remedy can be used for a lie over a blow job, why not for a series of lies that have killed thousands of Americans?!
What more needs to happen before this land of laws starts to work like a land of laws?!
I'd say Sen. Reid's new nickname ought to be "Hardball Harry" except perhaps that doesn't give quite the impression we'd like.
Still, I'm glad to see them playing tough with Republicans. The majority of the American people will get behind this sort of thing, and it will put pressure on Republicans who just want to obstruct any bill on Iraq that isn't pre-approved by the President. There has never been a better time to play rough, or a more important issue to play rough over.
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