I missed this yesterday, but it's worth noting that last night the Senate finally broke the filibuster of Cass Sunstein, President Obama's nominee to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The final vote was 63 to 35, with seven Republicans voting in favor of cloture (Bob Bennett, Susan Collins, Judd Gregg, Orrin Hatch, Dick Lugar, Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich) and three Democrats voting in opposition (Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor and Jim Webb). Next up Dawn Johnsen?

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By a vote of 61-36, cloture for the US Senate stimulus compromise passed today, paving the way for the bill's final passage tomorrow.

An $838 billion economic stimulus bill backed by the White House survived a key test vote in the Senate Monday despite strong Republican opposition, and Democratic leaders vowed to deliver legislation for President Barack Obama's signature within a few days.

Monday's vote was 61-36, one more than the 60 needed to advance the measure toward Senate passage on Tuesday. That in turn, will set the stage for possibly contentious negotiations with the House on a final compromise on legislation the president says is desperately needed to tackle the worst economic crisis in more than a generation.

The 61 votes consisted of all sitting Democratic Senators (Ted Kennedy made it to the floor for the vote and Al Franken has not been seated yet) as well as both Independent Senators plus the three expected Republicans: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The rest of the Republicans minus Judd Gregg who recused himself and John Cornyn who was not present, voted against cloture.

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I wish I'd thought of this months ago.  There's one question that we really need to ask all of the leading Democratic Presidential contenders:

"In light of the GOP's willingness to filibuster everything that moves, what's your next move when 41 GOP Senators block cloture on your entire legislative agenda?"

I think we'd learn a lot from the answers, if we had the opportunity to ask the question.  It would be good to see who talks about forcing actual filibusters and who doesn't.

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Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) has stated that he's opposed to the filibuster.  He believes that all issues should get an up or down vote.  He's railed against Democrats using the filibuster to stop Republican nominees and legislation.  It just so happens that we Democrats have thought the various nominees that the Bush Administration have proposed are with very few exceptions either utterly unqualified or such partisan hacks that there is no way we Democrats can support them.  Essentially, the only choice Democrats have to force the Bush Administration to propose reasonable and qualified nominees is to threaten the filibuster and Norm just wants His Shrubness to get his way.  In regards to legislation, we must oppose the worst Presidential Administration ever however we can.  Here's Norm's quote:

"I came to the Senate to get things done. I have never supported a filibuster, no matter how controversial the issue."
(Norm Coleman's 12/21/2005 Press Release)

Well, now he's changed his mind.  He has voted to uphold the filibuster of the Immigration Act that is before Congress.  It must be okay this time, because its the Republicans spurred on by their conservative base who are filibustering this bill.  Its clear from Norm's voting record that what the conservative base wants, is how Norm votes.

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Senator Charles (Chuck) Grassley (R-IA) built his reputation playing the down-to-earth farmer next door who went to Washington to represent the common sense of the folks back home. After arriving in Washington, he went after publicity as a critic of wasteful procurement practices, exposing the thousand dollar hammers and such. That act played well in Iowa and he became unbeatable. I truly wonder, however, if the man has anything left.

Watching his recent performance (since W took office), he appears more and more to be just another Republican placeholder - taking orders from the White House and regurgitating their talking points on cue.

A recent example of this has to do with his reaction to the situation in Iraq and the actions Congress is trying to take to change course. During last Saturday's cloture vote, Grassley voted with the prevailing side to prevent debate and consideration of the non-binding resolution. What did the Senator have to say about it?  

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