Thursday, June 28, 2007

Amnesty Bill Chrashes and Burns...





Well America, you did it! The US Senate this morning voted 4 against advancing the amnesty bill to a vote.The tally was 46 to 53, 14 votes shy of the 60 needed to end debate. Here's the role call:

Alphabetical by Senator Name
Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Allard (R-CO), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bayh (D-IN), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Coleman (R-MN), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dole (R-NC), Nay
Domenici (R-NM), Nay
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Obama (D-IL), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Smith (R-OR), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Nay
Sununu (R-NH), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
Warner (R-VA), Nay
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Yea



And here are the 18 senators who switched their votes between Tuesday and Thursday, thanks to your phone calls, e-mails and faxes...the Senate actually had to shut down its' phone system and limit access!

• Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico
• Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Missouri
• Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
• Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas
• Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina
• Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota
• Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine
• Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico
• Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada
• Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky
• Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
• Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Arkansas
• Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska
• Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio
• Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia
• Sen. James Webb, D-Virginia


This should be a clear message to Washington and the political elites that the American people want the borders fixed and to see concrete evidence of enforcement of our laws before they start worrying about immigration issues. Here's one senator who gets it, Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who said his "no" vote sent a crystal clear message "that the American people want us to start with enforcement, both at the border and at the workplace, and don't want promises. They want action, they want results, they want proof, because they've heard all the promises before."

The sheer arrogance in the way this bill was rushed through the Senate in an attempt to shove it down America's throat before anyone knew what hit them is mindboggling.

And the effort to mix the idea of border security with immigration and economic issues in a post 9/11 world amazes me.It deserved to be defeated.

As with all victories, there will be some consequences. The fact that proponents of this flawed legislation chose to go below the belt by playing the race card and painting those who legitimately questioned this folly as bigots may resonate with part of the Hispanic electorate..and of course, those politicians that threw this garbage into the mix, especially the Republicans, will of course blame the victims of their vitriol if there are any consequences at the polls. And given whose running the senate election campaign committees in both parties, those senators who had the courage to defy the elites and listen to their constituents can expect some spiteful retaliation.

Moreover, the same spitefulness will likely ensure that nothing gets done in terms of border security until the next president takes office...and Dianne Feinstein,Harry Reid, Mel Martinez, Ted Kennedy and Lindsay Graham have promised us as much.

Another thing we can probably look forward to is a real attempt to muzzle talk radio and the internet.The elites dislike it when the light is shined on their attempted back room dealings.

That attempt will undoubtedly be unsuccessful, but as always, freedom carries the burden of watchfulness.

For now, however, we can congratulate ourselves on a well-deserved victory.

1 comment:

Rosey said...

The 2 pieces of shit from NJ voted Yea, which means they ignored my faxes & e-mails as expected. Lautenberg they dragged out of retirement because the Dems had nobody else to run. Menendez was appointed by Gov. "Speedy" Mc Corzine when he vacated his seat to ruin, er.. run NJ. So I didn't get the chance to vote against Menendez only to watch him be elected anyway as always happens to me.

Worse than his Yea vote, Menendez wrote an amendment to allow more family members of legalized illegals to come on up and freeload. Fortunately it crashed with the rest of this disaster...

Thank G-d for talk radio. If the Dems are bashing Hannity and Limbaugh, they must be working.