Sen. Inhofe Misses Second Cloture Vote For Family Reasons

By Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.), the sole Senator not to make the second cloture vote Tuesday morning, missed the procedural step in order to accompany his wife and family back to his home state for Christmas.

According to a member of Inhofe’s staff, the Oklahoman Republican will return Wednesday for the remainder of the votes.

Inhofe voted against the first cloture vote early Monday morning and has arranged to have a prepared statement voicing his opposition to the legislation entered into the Congressional record upon each vote taken in his absence.

This is not Inhofe’s only trip within recent days. The Senator, who serves as Ranking Member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, ventured to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference last week in an attempt to inform the international audience over what Inhofe perceives as the unlikelihood of cap and trade legislation passing through the Senate.

Final Vote For Health Care Reform Draws Closer

The Senate passed a second cloture vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act early Tuesday morning, bringing the legislation to reform the U.S. health care system significantly closer to its final vote.

The vote, which adhered to party lines, was 60-39, with Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) as the only abstaining Senator.

The first of three cloture votes took place 1:00 am Monday morning and passed by 60-40. The final procedural vote to end debate over the legislation is expected Wednesday.

McConnell Concerned Cloture Vote Will Be Considered Vote For Health Care Reform

Travis Martinez, Univerity of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued Tuesday that a vote of cloture to proceed with the Democrats' health care reform bill will be perceived by the public as a vote to endorse “half a trillion in Medicare cuts, four hundred billion in new taxes and higher health insurance premiums for all.”

McConnell explained the dilemma Senators will face when the motion of cloture comes forth, invoking the specter of Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) unsuccessful presidential campaign.

"I think we all remember the Kerry campaign and we all remember the difficulty of explaining to our constituents why we were for something before we were against it," McConnell said, referencing a statement Kerry made on his feelings toward the Iraq war.

"I think it is perfectly clear that most Americans will treat the vote to get on with the [health care] bill as a vote on the substance of the bill," the Republican leader added.

Reid: Democrat’s Support of Specter is Not Conditional

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
Photo by Michael Ruhl

According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Democratic Leadership will stick by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter through thick and thin. The remarks came at a power breakfast on Capitol Hill, where Reid addressed, among other things, Specter’s recent defection to the Democratic Party.

President Obama, Vice President Biden and Reid have all pledged to support Specter when he comes up for reelection in 2010. When asked today whether or not that support was dependent on Specter voting a certain way, Reid said that it wasn’t.

“I’m not going to be in a forever, never position, but the facts are that he’s going to vote with us most of the time,” Reid Said. “I can’t foresee him doing anything that would be so mean spirited that Obama, Biden, and Reid would turn against him.”

If Al Franken wins the Senate Seat in Minnesota, which is still being contested in court, Specter would be the 60th Democrat in Congress, the number needed to stop a Republican filibuster.

“I don’t think [Specter is] going to be an automatic vote, but I don’t have any automatic votes,” Reid said. He was referring to fears from the right that Specter will be the key vote in stifling Republican policy.

Critics believe that Specter is going to help the Democrats steamroll through radical legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called the filibuster-proof Senate a “threat to the country.” He it would allow the Democrats to “have whatever it wants, without restraint, without a check or a balance.”


Specter's defection became a reality when he was assured by Reid that his seniority in the Senate would not be compromised. Reid has publicly stated that no members of Congress will be “bumped” from a committee position to make room for Specter.

The deal struck regarding Specter’s seniority was that upon defecting, he would be treated as though he had been elected a Democrat in 1980.

Not this Congress, at least.

Reid left open the door to moving Specter up in the ranks next Congress, and said, “We’ll work something out,” adding that in every new session of Congress, committee positions are worked out at the beginning of the term and restructured as necessary, and that the next Congress will not be an exception.

Specter’s Spectacle

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Senator Arlen Specter
Photo by Michael Ruhl

Senator Arlen Specter (Penn.) says that he left the Republican Party because they had stuck their nose into party affairs to the point of breeding extremism. Ironically the Democrats are doing the exact same thing to their newest member. Micromanaging from the highest level doesn’t seem to be exclusive to the Republicans.

Yesterday Specter walked away from the party he has been with for nearly four decades, because he felt they were ignoring moderate voice. Specter announced his decision to defect to the Democratic Party, only the twenty-first time that a Senator has done such a thing since 1890.

President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have both said they will fully support Specter in his 2010 election, but Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) was not sure that the party establishment should be backing Specter in this way.

“If decisions and candidates are being chosen in Washington, you may just reemphasize that divisive barrier that’s between the parties,” Sestak said. “I think we cannot afford to have a decision that is so important to Pennsylvanians be decided by the party establishment,” and that the voters should be the ones to choose their candidate.

Sestak is rumored to be considering running for the Pennsylvania Senate seat, and would come up against Specter in the Democratic primary. When asked directly, Sestak said he had not decided yet whether or not he would run. Another contender, Representative Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.) said today that she would not run for the seat.

The republican response has ranged from anger to confusion. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steel likened Specter to Benedict Arnold.

“Clearly, this was an act based on political expediency by a craven politician desperate to keep his Washington power base - not the act of a statesman,” Steel said. “Arlen Specter handed Barack Obama and his band of radical leftists nearly absolute power in the United States Senate.”

Specter responded, “I have not represented the Republican Party, I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.” He was referencing the fact that in the past months there has been an exodus from the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, where over 100,000 individuals changed their party registration from Republican to Democrat.

Specter is defending his position as being one of riding with the tides of his constituency, instead of bowing to the will of a national political party. Critics see it as a survival move of a desperate politician.

Speaking today with President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, Specter said that staying in the Senate would allow him to carry forward important initiatives for his constituents, speaking specifically about expanding medical research.

Specter would prove to be the 60 Democrat in the Senate, provided that comedian Al Franken prevails in his court case for the Minnesota Senate. Sixty votes, called a supermajority, is enough to override a Republican filibuster. Specter said previously, though, that he was not going to simply back the Democrats automatically, and President Obama acknowledged that, saying, “I don’t expect Arlen to be a rubber stamp.” According to Obama, he and Specter agree in the areas of health care, education, medical research