Al Franken has now cast three votes, all of them on amendments to HR2892 (Making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security). The first was cast yesterday, and it was a vote against a McCain amendment to slash funding for Over-the-Road Bus Security Assistance. The amendment failed, receiving only 47 votes (including Feingold and 11 other Democrats).
The two votes today are interesting because Franken and Klobuchar cancelled each other out. The first vote was on a motion to table an amendment introduced by Jeff Sessions “to make the pilot program for employment eligibility confirmation for aliens permanent and to improve verification of immigration status of employees.” It was basically a Latino harassment amendment. Franken voted to table it, while Klobuchar voted to keep it alive. Other Democrats who supported Sessions were: Baucus (D-MT), Conrad (D-ND), Dorgan (D-ND), Hagan (D-NC), Landrieu (D-LA), Lieberman (ID-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), McCaskill (D-MO), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), and Tester (D-MT). The amendment was not tabled.
The second vote was on an amendment introduced by Jim DeMint (R-SC) “to require the completion of at least 700 miles of reinforced fencing along the southwest border by December 31, 2010.” Again, this was a stupid amendment meant to waste taxpayer dollars to provide the illusion that we can prevent illegal immigration with fencing. Franken voted against it. Klobuchar voted for it. So did the following Democrats: Baucus (D-MT), Bayh (D-IN), Boxer (D-CA), Conrad (D-ND), Dorgan (D-ND), Feinstein (D-CA), Landrieu (D-LA), Lincoln (D-AR), McCaskill (D-MO), Merkley (D-OR), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Schumer (D-NY), Specter (D-PA), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT), Webb (D-VA), and Wyden (D-OR). The stupid fencing amendment passed with only fifty-four votes because sane Republicans voted against it, including:
Cochran (R-MS), Collins (R-ME), Ensign (R-NV), Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL), Murkowski (R-AK), and Voinovich (R-OH).
I continue to be depressed about how frequently senators vote out of fear rather than on the merits. Klobuchar should know better. It’s great to see that Franken is casting his first votes on the merits.
I wonder if Klobuchar endorses border wall construction in her backyard to keep out Canadian invaders.
Yeah, I don’t think so.
What about Chuckie Schumer? What’s that about?
He’s being a major asshole. Good thing they made him the lead writer of legislation…
Here in Detroit, someone built this river to keep out the Canucks 🙂
Remain vigilante lest the Ghost of Gadsden seeks retribution
all agricultural states are concerned about the fencing industry
is this what Booman means by “stupid fencing”?
Why would the Canadians want to come here? They have better healthcare (and probably jobs, at this point) there.
not to mention the absence of triple-digit weather, though with climate change they may lose the advantage…
that a minus sign is a digit.
Actually they get around this by being on the metric system; otherwise a few cities might hit 100 in the summer. Cheaters.
you’ll all be happy to learn today npr is talking about whether there was too much mj coverage in the previous days – I guess tomorrow we’ll hear about whether the discussions of too much coverage were too much
I bet in the discussion of whether there was too much coverage they make sure to show a lot of…. coverage.
nalbar
yes indeed, and they’re also quick to assure us that it’s the duty of npr to cover this topic as thoroughly as possible
how do you know it’s fear? maybe it’s just run-of-the-mill racism? Conservatives have had racial issues for YEARS, and a ot fo the democrats who votesd for this (bayh, landrieu, specter, pryor, lincoln) are quite conservative.
I don’t see it from Klobuchar. I don’t really see it from the others, either.
you don’t have to see it for it to be there.
Indiana, for example, has a HORRIBLE history of racism. Google “indiana + klan”.
arkansas and louisiana have similar histories. people are shaped by their experiences, and i am not about to rule it out.
And he did this:
“As of about half an hour ago, I became the co-sponsor of my first piece of legislation in the Senate. And it’s something called the Employee Free Choice Act.”
That’s what Al Franken said last night … just hours after being sworn in as a U.S. Senator from Minnesota.
It’s becoming painfully obvious that Sen. McCaskill only likes Latino when it is election time.
As a Minnesotan and former supporter of Se. Klobucher I’d like to apologize for having been duped into believing she was a Democrat.
She talked a good game but turned into a very good friend of every bad idea W asked for. Her staff is dismissive of concerns & lied to me about how she voted the last time I bothered to call them. When I spoke to her in person last year & expressed disappointment with her and her staff she promised to have someone get in touch to discuss. I’m still waiting.
Thank Spaghetti we have one decent Senator from MN now.
She’s prone to CYA votes, which is disappointing, but she’s pretty liberal on most things. After Vermont and Oregon, you probably have the best duo in the country.
The Rhode Island duo is kickass, too.
although Cantwell can occasionally be a disappointment. They’re not perfect, just pretty good.
If a fence makes people feel better about it, build the fence.
the fence does make it harder for people to cross; it doesn’t stop people, however, because there are always the air conditioned tunnels that the traficantes get built by mining engineers