Amnesty bill cloture vote in progress; Update: Cloture fails, 45-50; Update: Dead?
posted at 8:36 pm on June 7, 2007 by Allahpundit
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Cross your fingers.
Update: They’re very close to 41 no votes. Webb, Tester, and Pryor — all Democrats — just voted no.
Update: I’m pretty sure they’ve got 41. But will Reid renege on his threat to shelve it and offer new amendments instead? See the boss’s late update here about FAIR and the super-amendment the amnesty crowd is drafting.
Update: Jon Kyl, the linchpin of the “grand compromise,” just voted no. The vote’s going to fail. The question now is what Reid does.
Update: It failed, 45-50. Reid’s speaking now. He’s shelved it for now but says he’s open to a package of new amendments over the next several weeks to try to pass the bill. It’s dead — for now.
Update: Fox is running the headline, “Immigration bill dies in the Senate.” I’m not so sure…
Update: Reid noted that an unnamed colleague came into his office today and cried over the bill. MM names the prime suspect.
Update (bp): I can’t take much more of Dingy Harry whining on the Senate floor. Especially when he doesn’t know the difference between illegal aliens and lawful citizens. The man is a sad joke.
Update: MM pens the obituary:
As annoying as Reid’s refrain was, he is right: This was the president’s bill. This was the monstrous sham that President Bush tried to ram through the Senate with his pal Teddy Kennedy–subverting the committee process, attempting to cram it in before the Memorial Day holiday, rushing to limit debate, and then complaining about delays. This was the bill President Bush sent conservative-bashing bureaucrats like DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to peddle on CNN. This was the bill President Bush championed while deriding critics as fearful bigots and running away from building the fence he promised to build.
If the White House thinks conservatives are going to forget whose bill this was and the tactics the White House used in its failed attempt to ram it through Congress, they better think again.
If Lindsay Graham and John McCain think their abominable behavior is going to be forgotten, they better think again.
Update: John Hawkins: “A source in the Senate says this bill is as dead as Stalin and it won’t be becoming back no matter what McConnell is saying on the floor.”
Update: If Hawkins’s source is telling the truth then pin a big gold star on Jim DeMint. Or, as I like to call him, the Anti-Graham:
After the 2nd cloture vote failure at noon on Thursday, Harry Reid could not get unanimous consent to call up amendments to the bill because Jim DeMint refused to give his consent. This was extremely problematic for Reid because he wanted to get in votes on 6 more amendments before the last try at a cloture vote… This essentially killed the entire afternoon that the pro-amnesty side hoped to use to shore up support for the bill.
While DeMint was gumming up the works, the opponents of the bill, including most prominently Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, and Tom Coburn, huddled and came up with a list of conservative amendments they wanted considered.
The “Grand Compromise” crowd didn’t want a lot of these amendments to be voted on because either some of the amendments would have been accepted and it would have killed the bill or alternately, they would have had to vote against common sense enforcement measures and made themselves look bad.
Update: The sweet smell of death is in the air…
Democratic leaders were quietly pessimistic. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said Bush could count on 175 to 180 House Democrats to support a similar, comprehensive immigration bill, leaving the White House to deliver at least 40 Republicans in a body that has been far more polarized.
“If Bush could not get the votes in the Senate, what was he going to do in the House?” Emanuel asked.
Update: WaPo reveals the wrangling that secured passage of the killer Dorgan amendment last night and ultimately probably doomed the bill. Trent Lott is shocked, shocked (and “ashamed”) to find strategic voting going on:
Dorgan and a GOP ally, Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), looked to Republicans who had voted against the sunset amendment two weeks ago but who were known to have qualms about the bill itself. The target list included five senators from states with illegal-immigration problems, or where the issue had a particular potency with conservative voters. Along with DeMint, the list named Sens. Jim Bunning (Ky.), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Elizabeth Dole (N.C.) and Mike Enzi (Wyo.). Dole and Enzi face reelection next year.
After conversations with Dorgan and among themselves, four of the five decided to support Dorgan’s late-night second effort. Moments before the vote, Republican leaders succeeded in talking Grassley back to their side.
Update: WaPo reporter Dan Balz mourns the demise of the amnesty craptacular and wonders what it means for our political culture that we can’t come together as a people to support horrible, disastrous policy compromises.
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I hope hotair.com/MM is recording this on TiVo.
Some of the comments are pure VENT gold.
F15Mech on June 7, 2007 at 9:38 PM
Memo to John Kyl: Chertoff wants his kneepads back.
Kid from Brooklyn on June 7, 2007 at 9:38 PM
Kyl throws himself on sword, twists
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:39 PM
Kyl praising Kennedy and Feinstein. How can he talk with his mouth full.
Stick a fork in his ass and turn him over he is done
400lb Gorilla on June 7, 2007 at 9:39 PM
Right now their is enough Cuban cigar smoke floating around the Hill to accelerate global warming 20 years.
Limerick on June 7, 2007 at 9:39 PM
So, if there are 100 flaws in it, and you can point them all out, why did you try to ram it down our throat.
BTW, it feels good to say “try”.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 9:40 PM
I hope Michelle is taking names and plans to kick a$$
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 9:40 PM
Yeah! Good idea! How about Quonset huts?!
IrishEi on June 7, 2007 at 9:41 PM
Hahah. I don’t know. What a tool.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 9:41 PM
CSPAN is cruel and unusual punishment isn’t that illegal.
Oh that is right nothing is illegal any more
400lb Gorilla on June 7, 2007 at 9:41 PM
Oh goody Sen Diane What defense contracts” Feinstein is making a pass at Teddy. Guess the bar is open.
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:41 PM
I’m so ashamed of Specter and my state of Pennsylvania for voting him in.
Now I want a 6,000 mile fence (yes, even in deep water) that sits 200 feet tall and is spiked on the outside.
And a moat with crocodiles.
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:42 PM
Here comes the ‘you can’t deport 12 million people’ strawman again.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 9:42 PM
I’m not kidding.
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:42 PM
They don’t want to be AMERICANS!
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 9:43 PM
I love the smell of George Voinovich peeing his pants in the morning. Smells like….Victory…
HerrMorgenholz on June 7, 2007 at 9:43 PM
I want to revive extinct megafauna and put them on the southern border.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 9:43 PM
If we can’t deport ‘em, maybe we can have them build a fence?
And while they’re finishing the paint job on the Mexico side, we shut the door and lock it.
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:43 PM
Great news. Now we build a fence — anyone remember the fence in Jurassic Park? That’s what ahm talkin’ about, Hillary…
Graham is a pansy; the sound of his sissy voice sets my teeth on edge. But it could have been another great GOP stalwart.
Jaibones on June 7, 2007 at 9:44 PM
And he is only the second worse congress critter from PA. Murtha being #1
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:44 PM
Man-eating plants?? Niiiiice.
How ’bout we build the fence out of the 12 million illegals?
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:44 PM
Eh, I think that would be a little too swanky for them. Do rats need to live in quonset huts?
BTW, found this comment on BBC’s comment page on this.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 9:44 PM
Her hair goes up when they call it ‘amnesty.’ We’re not stupid.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 9:44 PM
No. Fauna, not flora. Sabretooth tigers.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 9:45 PM
Does Feinstein think the debate is still going on?
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 9:45 PM
Only if the crocodiles are HIV-positive. Let’s dig a canal along the entire southern border. As a bonus, we screw the PLA which controls the Panama Canal. Seriously.
Kid from Brooklyn on June 7, 2007 at 9:46 PM
At least Feinstein is open to the idea of more than one large, encompassing, bill
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
Undoubtedly, and likely on a couple of RAID 5 arrays.
steveegg on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
Hey, let’s get liberal tampering-with-God’s-creation scientists involved and make some Sabretooth Mammoths?
Yeah, Sabretooth Mammoths with crocodiles for arms.
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
Tancredo just creamed his pants.
V15J on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
I’ll be damned…. We actually do matter….
HerrMorgenholz on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
Which system is Feinstein talking about being a failure? The Senate
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:48 PM
Amen! I’ve already compiled a master sheet of all 100 Senators’ emails and phone numbers. Like the BSA say, “Be prepared.”
IrishEi on June 7, 2007 at 9:48 PM
I’ll be damned…. We actually do matter….
HerrMorgenholz on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
Sure. but apparently, just a little.
ArmedGeek on June 7, 2007 at 9:49 PM
The best part of it is the look on all their faces. Remember Pelosi in January “The people have spoken” Ha Ha Whoops Nancy “The People” have spoken again. Are you gettin a clue yet? Conservatives Unite!
sonnyspats1 on June 7, 2007 at 9:49 PM
Tancredo just creamed his pants.
V15J on June 7, 2007 at 9:47 PM
TEAM TANCREADO ROCKS
Sorry hugh
400lb Gorilla on June 7, 2007 at 9:49 PM
I think Cornyn earms a great deal of respect from me
William Amos on June 7, 2007 at 9:49 PM
$16mil vs $27mil in donations. That is what mattered.
Limerick on June 7, 2007 at 9:50 PM
I think I’ll have a drink to Tancredo
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 9:50 PM
Wait, wait, what about…get this….Sabretooth Mammoths with crocodiles for arms being ridden by Klingons?? C’mon, it’s gold. We won’t even need a moat at that point.
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:50 PM
Why are all of these senators saying they are disappointed? Can we hear from one who isn’t disappointed? Is there at least one who can go “Yee Haww we kicked that piece of cow dung down the road.”
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:51 PM
I think I’ll have a drink to Tancredo
Same here we need more Harley riding Senators instead of D-Whipped Republicans who don;t speak for us
400lb Gorilla on June 7, 2007 at 9:51 PM
We’ll engineer them to have litters of 10 and gestation periods of a week.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 9:52 PM
I got no problems with the idea of “tackling the problem”. Try ‘enforce the law’ on for size.
Spirit of 1776 on June 7, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Cheers!
steveegg on June 7, 2007 at 9:52 PM
These people are complaining to each other as if the American people do not even exist. Elitist jerk offs. Mel Martinez is crying like a baby. He acts like this problem just happened, and this was the last best hope to get it fixed.
HEY MEL YOU A$$HOLE!! SECURE THE DAMN BORDERS FIRST!!
Stupid a$$es.
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Score one for the NaziBigotHomophobicSexistRacistTimecistBrown-people-fearingNeeeeeeeeeeconBrigades!
Good Lt on June 7, 2007 at 9:52 PM
True, Lets Celebrate
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Oh, what does Martinez think we’re stupid? Like his concern was for the people who want a secure border.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 9:53 PM
I’ll clean my own damn hotel room, Martinez.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 9:53 PM
the people who are Illegal?
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 9:53 PM
We don’t need no stinkin new ones.
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:37 PM
New creedo You might not need no steenkeen badges, But you do need Steenkeen Visa’s.
sonnyspats1 on June 7, 2007 at 9:53 PM
You forgot warmongering
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:54 PM
I’ve been posting about this on my own blog as well. Anyone know where we can go to get a vote count? I’d like to be able to list the heros and villians here.
wearyman on June 7, 2007 at 9:55 PM
I hope someone points out to “Dirty Dianna” that she had 21 years to fix this problem.
F15Mech on June 7, 2007 at 9:55 PM
So is anyone monitoring the moans and groans over on the nutroots blogs ? I would go and look for myself but my computer could get an infection.
Maxx on June 7, 2007 at 9:55 PM
Oh god Turbin Durbin is speaking.
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:55 PM
Works twice over: first to celebrate, second makes it easier to listen to these yahoos whining.
Spirit of 1776 on June 7, 2007 at 9:56 PM
LMAO
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 9:57 PM
While we are crowing nothing is being done to change the flow, not one more mile of fence is going up, not one amnesty city police force has their reporting procedures changed. Sure it is a victory, but for whom?
Limerick on June 7, 2007 at 9:57 PM
The Klingons will be armed with guns that shoot guns that shoot hammers. You can’t be too careful.
unamused on June 7, 2007 at 9:57 PM
Whine you 8itches, whine!
What happened Dicky boy? You lost because the senate is a different organization?
Dumb a$$! You lost because the American people were furious!
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 9:58 PM
Actually quite a few of the liberal blogs were against this too but for different reasons. They didn’t like there being any rules for citizenship. They simply want the Cuban rule. If your here you’re a citizen.
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 9:58 PM
We really dodged a bullet on this one. Now we need to send them back to the private sector so they can collect their lobby lotto winnings.
ronsfi on June 7, 2007 at 9:58 PM
I gotta get back to watching C-Span again. DO they have any reality programming?
Vincenzo on June 7, 2007 at 9:59 PM
Seems to me we need more Leaders and fewer Managers on the hill.
ronsfi on June 7, 2007 at 9:59 PM
True
We should all write our senators tonight and complain about the fence not being built and the laws not being enforced.
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 10:00 PM
Roll call
steveegg on June 7, 2007 at 10:00 PM
Well it is bed time but like Limerick said we haven’t won a thing really until we can get the current laws enforced without every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wants to thumb their nose at it getting a pass and being treated as a hero.
Night all take care.
LakeRuins on June 7, 2007 at 10:01 PM
Ok, got the vote!
HERE is the post on my blog with the vote tally. Find your Senator AND CALL!
wearyman on June 7, 2007 at 10:01 PM
They keep talking about all these poor people (presumably illegal aliens) who are unsure tonight about what is going to happen next, or are all upset because they don’t have answers now that the bill didn’t pass. All these people they have supposedly let down.
What about the legal people? What about citizens like me who sit here and don’t know what to think about a bill that seems to reward illegal behavior? What about the anxiety I experience when I think about my government seeking to selectively enforce the law?
Screw them for assuming that the only people who have worried about the outcome of this bill are those who support it. Screw them for assuming that the only people who have a stake in this are the illegals. Screw them for making the worries of one group more important than the that of others. Screw them for pointing fingers at those who disagree with them and calling names. Screw them for belittling me and my opinions on this issue. Screw all of them.
Ugg…. this whole thing is so frustrating, I don’t know why I’m still watching it.
dead-duck on June 7, 2007 at 10:02 PM
Just saw the headliner on Drudge. We have the power when we use it. We ought to do it more often.
smellthecoffee on June 7, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Well Durbin said one thing a lot of us can agree with, “I did it because I met this young woman…”
Spirit of 1776 on June 7, 2007 at 10:05 PM
His name suits him well
abinitioadinfinitum on June 7, 2007 at 10:05 PM
Bye Bye McCain.
PRCalDude on June 7, 2007 at 10:08 PM
You’re dead on. Everyone of us who complained about this need to thank your senators and more importantly, give them the direction you want them to take. Tell them to secure the borders. Secure the borders. SECURE THE FRIGGEN BORDERS!!!! After, and only after the borders are secured, then we will listen to your ideas about the rest.
Oh, and Dick Durbin…..guess what you tool? WE DON”T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO GRAHAM!!! You fools act like sticking to a flawed bill is something to be proud of. Everyone of you should e sent packing!
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Posted by McJoan at DKos:
How much more reasonable can a President get. Bush
rolled over forhanded it to them.(And why am I always the one who has to go over there?)
IrishEi on June 7, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Yep! Buh Bye McCain! And good riddance!
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Hagel, Specter, Voinovich, McCain, Martinez, Graham, Lugar.
The Wild Bunch meets the HA Posse.
Limerick on June 7, 2007 at 10:10 PM
No joke, is Graham proud that Durbin just praised him for screwing his base?
Spirit of 1776 on June 7, 2007 at 10:12 PM
I wonder what a Mexican Robot would look like! Hey thats a slammin name for a group. Ladies and gentlemen “THE MEXICAN ROBOTS’ OK OK I’ll go back to my ice cream dessert.
sonnyspats1 on June 7, 2007 at 10:13 PM
OH, yer breaking my heart Dick. Cry me a river.
Now, get these damn illegals out of our country and secure the borders!
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 10:13 PM
HEY! I like what I’m hearing from Sessions!
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 10:14 PM
Too much of it. LOL.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 10:16 PM
Session sounds like he gets it.
F15Mech on June 7, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Sessions rather
F15Mech on June 7, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Featured post on Daily Kos:
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Dude… I wish you were a new reporter. Well said.
Maxx on June 7, 2007 at 10:19 PM
That Kossack’s tombstone is being prepared as we type.
steveegg on June 7, 2007 at 10:20 PM
It looks like the amnesty beast is down for now. But it could be back, so we can’t become complacent, we need to kill this bill and its hellspawn forever.
I may have to buy some cigars though if we defeated it, it is cause to celebrate…
Bad Candy on June 7, 2007 at 10:21 PM
Hey, I was in a group called “THE MEXICAN ROBOTS”. It was a tribute to Dio.
steveegg on June 7, 2007 at 10:21 PM
Very true, we need to always “check 6″.
This is not over…it will be back. If we become complacent then it will be over.
F15Mech on June 7, 2007 at 10:23 PM
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilience” Thomas Jefferson. Well done my friends. Now we must be ready for the next assault on our beloved America.
calnevari on June 7, 2007 at 10:24 PM
Agreed. At the very least, however, we bought ourselves some time. We need to make sure we keep those main Senators under fire - constantly.
Remember that Send-A-Brick campaign a while back? I wonder what they’re doing this time of year.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 10:25 PM
Well, I think I’m going to bed. I can sleep well.
amerpundit on June 7, 2007 at 10:26 PM
Should thought about that when you decided to clockblock our judicial nominations. How’s that taste, Harold?
By the way, isn’t this the final nail in the coffon of the Bush presidency? Stick a fork in him and his open-borders cronies.
Kid from Brooklyn on June 7, 2007 at 10:27 PM
Not me, I’m excited and wired, plus I gotta watch RedEye.
Bad Candy on June 7, 2007 at 10:28 PM
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