Thread: Seven Who Could Stop Amnesty

Seven Who Could Stop Amnesty

By The Editors

Stopping amnesty is entirely within the power of senators who oppose it. Later today, the Senate will vote on whether to proceed on the bill. To revive the once-stalled bill will require 60 votes, which means that if the senators who vote no and the senators who don’t vote add up to 41, the bill is dead. The best vote count now has 33 no votes plus the non-vote of the ill Sen. Tim Johnson. Assuming this count is accurate, only seven more are needed to stop amnesty.



Those votes are available from a bipartisan group of senators who say they oppose the amnesty bill. They are Sens. Kit Bond, Sam Brownback, Richard Burr, Thad Cochran, Norm Coleman, John Ensign, and Jim Webb. If any of these senators votes to revive the bill, his professions of opposition to amnesty should no longer be taken seriously. He will have done his crucial bit, when the amnesty bill was most vulnerable, to help shepherd it to passage. We know how senators who claim to oppose amnesty will try to explain away a vote to revive the bill. They will rely on procedural obfuscation: They didn’t want to obstruct the process, they wanted to get a vote on an amendment, etc. But amnesty is staying in the bill — no amendment to strike the bill’s central features has any chance of passage — and it deserves to be obstructed.

[b]Here’s a look at where these seven senators stand:

Kit Bond (R., Mo.): He has the very model of a contradictory stand on this bill. He is saying that he will vote for cloture — that is, for taking up the bill again — and then offer an amendment that would gut the Senate deal by stripping the “path to citizenshipâ€

Richard Burr (R., N.C.): He says he is opposed to amnesty but he wants the bill to come up for debate. Yet the debate is rigged: The supporters of the bill will knock down any meaningful changes to it and pass their core deal. Burr should take note of his senior colleague Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s position. Quite logically, she opposes amnesty and will therefore vote against cloture.

We all know it's rigged. In 2010 we need to just vote Burr a_ _ out

I called Brownback's office around 9:30 EST today and I was told he plans to vote NO on Cloture today.

Webb is interested in seeing how his Amendment fairs so he'll vote yes on Cloture today, I'm afraid. I can't get through to his offices today but as of yesterday, he wanted to get his Amendment on the floor. (BOSTAAD!!!)

Got through to Bond, Burr and Coleman and none are admitting or stating their position on Cloture.

Rigged we know it is rigged ...some will play like they are with us ...but just enough will be against us to get what the Elite need...however, WE ARE NOT FOOLED AND WE WILL NEVER FORGET...

Coleman is voting for amnesty, his office just confirmed.