Kerry, Lieberman Skip Final Medicare Vote

Myway.com ^ | Nov 25, 1:38 PM (ET) | By SAM HANANEL

[.cnI redruM]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The only two senators to miss the final vote on landmark Medicare legislation were Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, who returned to the campaign trail Tuesday.

Kerry and Lieberman had canceled campaign appearances Sunday and Monday to support a filibuster of the bill, but after a pair of procedural votes Monday failed to stop it, both senators skipped the final vote. They said passage of the $395 billion measure was a foregone conclusion.

The Senate cleared the bill, 54-44, and sent it to President Bush for his signature. The two Democratic candidates said there was no point in staying in Washington after losing the critical vote to halt the bill's progress by invoking arcane budget rules.

"There was no question about the passage," said Kerry, who was stumping in Iowa on Tuesday. "The vote was not going to make a difference in the outcome."

(AP) Democratic presidential hopeful, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, left, accompanied by Rep. John... Full Image

The Massachusetts senator said it was more important for him to "take the fight for real, affordable prescription drug relief to the country as I run for president."

Lieberman spokeswoman Casey Aden-Wansbury said the Connecticut senator's position against the Medicare bill was widely known.

"He was present for the most critical vote," she said. Lieberman campaigned in Arizona Tuesday.

The bill gives private insurers a large new role in health care for seniors and adds a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. It is the most sweeping change since the program was created in 1965.

Kerry and another presidential candidate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, participated in a Monday afternoon presidential debate in Iowa by satellite so they could stay in Washington for the procedural votes. Edwards voted against the bill Tuesday.

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Associated Press Writer Lolita Baldor contributed to this report.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>>>>>>WASHINGTON (AP) - The only two senators to miss the final vote on landmark Medicare legislation were Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, who returned to the campaign trail Tuesday.

Bawk-BawkBawkBawk, Bawk-BawkBawkBawk

[Egon]

Hm. I think I'll use that excuse to miss work a few times. My client has many developers-- any one of which could probably sit in meetings just as well as I could. It's not critical that I be there...

[MindyW]

And they are still taking a full salary. Must be nice to have that kind of job, I agree.

[Wright is right!]

They simply have decided that they don't want to be on record as having voted for OR against it - so they can posture about the bill on the campaign trail.

Michael

[Zack Nguyen]

This is just so there is no record, in months or years to come, of their vote on the bill. The AARP and RNC can be mad, but they can't run a commercial talking about their bad votes.

[pettifogger]

Like Kay Bailey Hutchison on the PBA bill, as I understand.

[.cnI redruM]

Yeah, as a mid-level cog in the federal government, my timely presence at my place of duty is a mandatory condition of my continued employment therewith.

[mombonn]

Bingo, you took the words right out of my keyboard!

[UCANSEE2]

VOTERS TAKE NOTE.

If you plan to vote DEMOCRATIC TICKET, or just plan to vote for KERRY or LIEBERMAN, remember they REFUSED to VOTE for their constituency!

At the polls, remember to FORGET TO VOTE for them.

[jimbo123]

RNC Campaign Ad:

"When Democrats Kerry and Lieberman had a chance to vote to give prescription drug benefits to senior citizens, they decided to run away and hide. Do you want a Democrat president who runs away and hides from the healthcare needs of America's senior citizens?"

[.cnI redruM]

I can do that one up to be even nastier....

(Camera shows two scowling, jowly photos of Libel man and Kerry) "They ran from there obligations to vote in the Senate on a Prescription Drug Benefit for Senior Americans. What other obligations would they run from?"

(Cut away and show one of the Two Towers collapsing into cataclysmic ruin)

"Can America afford a President that runs from the call of duty?"

[traditionalist]

Kerry and Lieberman had canceled campaign appearances Sunday and Monday to support a filibuster of the bill, but after a pair of procedural votes Monday failed to stop it, both senators skipped the final vote.

Why is it that the party that's so good at filibustering failed to filibuster this bill? For once they would have actually filibustered that should have been filibustered, and they screwed it up. Ugh.

[.cnI redruM]

You have to realize. The Dems can usually only filibuster a bill that actually offers some merit. Their surprising ability to kill the porcine energy bill was the exception that proves redruM's Law of Democratic Filibusters.

[texastoo]

"Why is it that the party that's so good at filibustering failed to filibuster this bill?"

The Democrats love socialism.

[deport]

Why is it that the party that's so good at filibustering failed to filibuster this bill?

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They lost a cloture vote 70 - 29, 1 not voting and a waiver of the CBA provisions which requires a 60 vote majority..... 61 - 39.....

[Zack Nguyen]

That's a good one.

[Zack Nguyen]

LOL! And that would shock the nation!