Alexander (TN), Ayotte (NH), Graham (SC), Grassley (IA), Hatch (UT), Moran (KS), Boozman (AR), Burr (NC), Coats (IN), Cochran (MS), Collins (ME), Corker (TN), Cornyn (TX), Fischer (NE), Flake (AZ), Heller (NV), Hoeven (ND), Johanns (NE), Kirk (IL), McCain (AZ), McConnell (KY), Rubio (FL), Sessions (AL), Vitter (LA), and Wicker (MS).
Having now made sure their buddy, Dingy Harry, can pass the legislation with a simple majority, these 19 Republican stalwarts can now vote against the bill when it comes up for a vote and then go back and tell the low information Republican voters how they fought "campaign finance reform."
“these 19 Republican stalwarts”
Make that 25.
With Republicans like this, who needs Dims?
Final passage requires 66 votes. Some of them would have to continue voting for it.
Isn't that 3/4ths of the states?
-PJ
Yes, I see some good senators on the cloture list, but I also notice who is absent, including Toomey (PA), Cruz (TX) and Lee(UT).
I respect their absolute morality views more than I do a political ploy.
Translation: this favors Democrats more than Republicans, so you are insane if you do not vote for it.
It just goes to show that these scoundrels are sensitive to "sanity in elections" and "confidence in democracy".
So liberals are against the first amendment now?
..or is it....
Free speech for me, but not for thee?
Incumbents of both parties trying to make it more difficult for them to be challenged in future elections. They are trying to save their own a**es.
==
All of New England has a population of 14 million, half that of Texas, yet New England gets ten Senators and Texas gets two.
Unless you LIKE being ruled by Dingy Harry, Bernie Sanders, Pat Leahy...
You’re reading this wrong. McConnell just pulled a fast one on Reid - this was never intended to pass cloture, and now that it has, the ‘rats are going to be answerable for this electioneering publicity stunt that was just supposed to fire up the base, and doubly so once the GOP squashed it.
By letting it come to the floor, the GOP is forcing the ‘rats to debate it and pick a side, where either answer gets them in trouble - either with the whack-job base or the mushy middle. Plus, it ties up the Senate and slows down the rest of Reid’s agenda. Well played, and surprisingly so, for as clumsy as the GOP has been recently.
The Senate is a joke with Democrats in charge. Not that the RINO’s would be a whole lot better, but if we can vote them out over time, eventually it would be. I can dream at least.
Senate = American House of Lords
snip
The amendment is almost certain to fail, as it would need to win two-thirds support to pass the Senate, and then would still need to move through the House and be ratified by two-thirds of the states.
19 Republican stalwarts = MOLES
Your reading comprehension needs work. This is a Constitutional amendment, which means it can't pass with a simple majority. It can't even pass with the 60 votes usually needed for cloture. It needs 67 votes to pass the Senate.
While I don't often agree with what the GOP Senate leaders do, I agree with their tactic here. One, it forces the Dems to actually publicly argue why they want to restrict free speech and gives the GOP the chance to publicly argue in favor of the 1st Amendment. Two, it ties up the Senate and keeps the Dems from pushing their bill on the minimum wage and such. By the time they get finish debating this bill and it gets voted down, they will barely have enough time to vote for the CR before it is time to adjourn.
Only Senator Palpatine can save us now.