56% of Senators Against Surge; Same as in the House

[DeepModem Mom]

WP "Capitol Briefing" blog, by Paul Kane
56% of Senators Against Surge; Same as House

The Senate remains stalled on its ability to bring up and pass a resolution of disapproval for President Bush's troop surge into Iraq, with just 56 Democrats and Republicans supporting a move to debate the bill Saturday.

But while the Senate's anti-war opponents couldn't clear the 60-vote threshold necessary to move the measure forward, the "upper chamber" now is on the record with 56 out of 100 members apparently ready to disagree with Bush on Iraq. That is nearly the same proportional breakdown as the House.

In the House, 246 members voted for the resolution, or 56.5 percent of the entire body. In the Senate it was exactly 56 percent. Granted, the Senate vote, unlike the vote in the House, was just a parliamentary question on whether to move into the debate -- but Democratic leaders said they considered the vote a chance for each senator to weigh in on the war.

Unlike in the House, however, the Senate GOP votes in favor of moving forward on the disapproval resolution came almost entirely from the moderate wing of the party, along with a few conservatives facing potentially tough re-elections in 2008....

***

In order to get to 60 votes, which would move a resolution to a vote on the floor, Democrats need a total of 11 Republican votes.

There are 51 natural potential votes for the Democratic side, but Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) remains at George Washington University Hospital recovering from brain surgery. And Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was the only member of the Democratic caucus to vote against the party line.

Can the Democrats find four more Republicans to get to 60 votes?....

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/02/56_in_senate_against_surge_sam.html

[DeepModem Mom]

1. p.m. kick

[Ignacio Upton]

2. Up or down vote, damnit!

n/t.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Yep -- we'd win that up-or-down vote, so beloved by Republicans. nt

[tritsofme]

4. Actually we only need 3 more votes

Reid has to vote against cloture for procedural reasons when it becomes apparent that the cloture motion will fail.

[helderheid]

5. I thought it was too late - was I wrong?

[DeepModem Mom]

6. I think the writer is looking forward to possible future attempts...

to rein in Bush's out-of-control Iraq policy. I believe I saw, in passing, that there's consideration of another attempt at a Senate resolution, and I know Murtha has something up his sleeve.

[MisterHowdy]

7. Only 56%!

That sucks....
Where is the outrage over this war?
The "surge" has to be one of the most obvious mistakes the bush admin. has made so far,
and only 56% are calling him on it????

If I knew how to add emoticons, I would add that one of the little cold, shaking blue guy.

n/t