March 8, 2007: Republican Leadership Dodges Offer on Iraq Debate; Consideration of Amendments to 9/11 Commissions Bill

[20:29]
Senate is done for the day.  Cloture vote(s) tomorrow morning, but this legislation has slowed down.  Weekend work is possible.  Tomorrow's work begins bright and early, 9:15 e.s.t.



[18:14]
Quorum call here.  C-SPAN2 reporting by way of Congressional Quarterly that September 11th Families have gotten involved in steering this 9/11 Commission Recommendations Bill.  The Families lobbied Repub leader McConnell to support a clean bill (something like what the House passed).  Further, the Families warned McConnell and the Repubs against offering cumbersome amendments that will/would bog down the legislation and perhaps impeded its final passage.

All I can say is, there was supposed to be a vote today (this afternoon?) on a Cornyn package of amendments, and that has not happened—there have been no votes today.  Lots of back room dealing, could go late tonight.  The Senate and dinner make a great combo, even better the Senate and a digestif.


[17:05]
Now Barbara Boxer (CA).  She says, basically, the Republicans wanted a vote on the Gregg Amendment, our leader (Reid) said Fine, we'll give you a vote on Gregg.  But now that's not good enough.  Boxer went on to examine what it means when we say we have to "love the troops."  I think what she was really saying was, What do we mean when we talk about "supporting the troops."  Love the troops; I've never heard of that.  She was taking on "support the troops" but indirectly by talking about "loving the troops".  Strange.  Anyway, she talked about how she is teaming with Lieberman, with whom she clashes, admittedly, on Iraq policy, but they are teaming to tackle the issue of troops and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).  She says it's not acceptable to send troops afflicted with PTSD back out into the field armed with a bottle of anti-depressants (Zoloft, Paxil, etc.)  That's like giving an amputee a bottle of aspirin and sending them back out into the field, she says.  


[17:01]
Reid: Any bags that were packed for weekend travel can be put away.  We could have as many as three cloture votes this weekend, he says.

Now Mitch McConnell.  Yes, the Iraq debate is coming; the Iraq debate, though, "is about supporting the troops."  He says that they'll debate Iraq in a couple of weeks when they debate the Iraq/Terror supplemental.  Are we gonna have an Iraq debate and then have another Iraq debate, he wonders.  And about the status of the war: he observes that we have not been attacked again since 9/11 and that it's no coincidence that we haven't been attacked while we've been on the offense in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We're going to support the troops, he says.  We'll have that debate, at the latest, in the context of the supplemental.


[16:52]
Reid and others are now on the floor.  He offers this proposal on Iraq debate: Monday: SJ Res 9; S res 101; S con res etc.;  These are all of the Iraq resolutions, from Warner to Gregg to House to McCain....  There would be six hours set aside for debating them on Monday.  Six more hours on Tuesday, then votes on all of them.  That is what Reid is now propounding.

McConnell (KY, minority leader) reserves right to object.  These resolutions go back three weeks now, he says.  He is objecting.

It seemed that Reid was offering the Repubs exactly what they asked for in past weeks: votes on McCain, and most importantly, the STICKING POINT, the Gregg Amendment.  Now Reid offers the Repubs a vote on Gregg and the Repubs object!  Reid says that the Repubs have changed their stance, calls the Gregg Amdt, a "feel good" amendment.  Is perplexed as to why the Repubs have objected to this.



[16:45]
Dorgan asks Susan Collins (ME) what is going on with his amendment.  She says that there is a negotiation in the back rooms where the "two sides" are sitting down with the list of amendments, trying to put together two lists: (1) a list for packaging a bunch of amendments together for a unanimous consent requests (voice vote, non-controversial); and (2) a list for roll-call votes.  She says Dorgan's amendment is on one of those lists.

Dorgan says, That's great, I didn't think it was.  Collins says that the lists are not done because one or more senators are not consenting to the UC package because he and/or she is not satisfied with the package.  Then Trent Lott comes out of nowhere and says, "Is it too late to object to the Senator's amendment?"  I think this was actually a joke.  Lott is a bit of a trickster.  Dorgan cracked a smile and made some off-hand joke about the senate have "professional objectors."  Collins agreed.  Lott is still on the floor; the senate is in quorum call but I can see him talking to Collins.  Dorgan concluded by saying that the way the senate works is that one senator can hold up an entire bill, just like how the confirmation of assistant secretary of the interior passed this week 87-1 after being held up for months, because one senator (Vitter, LA, the one senator to vote nay) was holding up the nomination.


[16:34]
Byron Dorgan, ND.  He has tried to have an amendment concerning al Qaeda get a vote, but it won't come to a vote, it seems.  It requires a classified report be presented to Congress every six months concerning al Qaeda—where is bin Laden, etc.


[16:13]
Quorum call.  Some good, classical music.  C-SPAN2 voiceover informs me that there will be a vote on a Cornyn Amendment later today, the amendment itself an amalgamation of five Republican amendments.  Further, Majority leader Reid will motion for a cloture vote on the bill (specifically, a "substitute" amendment) tomorrow morning.  Reid wants to get the bill done this week and if the Senate has to convene on Saturday to get the bill done, it will.


[15:52]
Bernie says his speech is meant to be an overview of the economy.  He is introducing a National Priorities Act, which will repeal the Bush tax cuts for the richest 1% of Americans and cut Pentagon funding by $60b.  It would re-direct that money for education, health care, Pell Grants and other programs, incentives for investment in alternative energy & rail, affordable housing, earned income tax credit, and deficit reduction ($30b).  Bernie says, This legislation will not be passed tomorrow, probably not even the next day.  But it provides Congress with a blueprint, and it asks us, Which side are we on?  This legislation gives us the money to do the things we are always talking about doing, veterans' health care for instance.


[15:30]
Bernie Sanders (VT) is calling on the Senate to address the growing gap between rich and poor when it passes a budget for FY 2008.  He says that the Senate should repeal the Bush tax cuts that go to help the richest 1% of Americans.  He says that the Senate should take a hard look at the Pentagon; that the Senate should not continue to fund weapons systems that were made to fight the Soviets; that the Senate should fund the Pentagon to fight al Qaeda.  Five million Americans have slipped into poverty since Bush came into office, he says.  Then applause broke out from the gallery.  The gallery was admonished by the president (Klobuchar) not to show signs of appreciation, even though I know you want to.  Sanders, who sits on the budget committee, says that every week someone from the White House tells the budget committe that the tax cuts are working and that the economy is doing well.  He is not so sure that the people of Vermont would agree.  Now he is talking about health care, who has it, who don't.  We're gonna have to take on the insurance companies, he says, we're gonna have to take on the mulitnational corporations that benefit, he says.  More and more small businesses cannot afford health care for their employees, he says.  He is particularly concerned about the price of dental care.  Tooth decay and dental care are big issues in Vermont, he says.  We can do better than having kids with teeth rotting in their mouths.  Now he is talking about college education.  Bernie's speeches are sweeping wide these days.


[14:53]
The Senate is in a quorum call.  Larry Craig (ID) spoke earlier.  He is the ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Committee.  He proposed allowing service-connected, disabled vets be allowed to seek care at any hospital in the country, not just VA hospitals, but any hospital in the private sector.  The government would pick up the tab.  He is betting that vets would not rush out of VA hospitals because vets are satisfied with the care at VA hospitals.


[13:37]
The Senate is in a quorum call; no one has spoken since Graham.


[13:07]
Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) is debating the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act, which Congress passed last year.  He is debating Arlen Specter (PA), who believes portions of the act are unconstitutional.  Graham says that the act is constitutional, despite its refusal to extend habeas corpus to enemy combatants held by the military in a place like Guantanamo Bay.  I am not sure why the senators are debating this topic right now; Specter might have an amendment for the 9/11 Commission bill that seeks to "patch" the Miltary Commissions Act (as he sees it).  As you might recall, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the Military Commissions Act; it remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will hear an appeal of the case.  Specter is talking about how, in that case, the name of a source of evidence was allowed not to be disclosed.  Graham says that the question is whether or not enemy combatants have the constitutional right of habeas corpus (the right to come before a civilian court).  Specter reads a Supreme Court case from last summer (Rasul) as verifying that non-citizen enemy combatants have this right.  Graham says that Rasul did not reach such a finding.


[11:21]
The Senate is in a quorum call right now.  Earlier, Isakson (GA) spoke in favor of a Cornyn Amendment; Durbin (IL) spoke on Darfur; and Lieberman (CT) spoke about the pending bill, which he is managing for the majority.


(P)review:
The Senate will be working throughout the day on the September 11th Commission Recommendations Bill, S.4.  Yesterday the Senate votes on three amendments—passing one, rejecting one, tabling another. The Senate passed a McCaskill (MO) amendment that purports "to provide appeal rights and employee engagement mechanisms for passenger and property screeners."  Voting in favor of the labor-friendly amendment was every single Democrat and one Republican, that's right, Arlie Speck Speck, a.k.a. Arlen Specter (PA).  The Collins Amendment, a sort of yin for the McCaskill Amendment's yang, and which purported "to provide certain employment rights and an employee engagement mechanism for passenger and property screeners, and for other purposes," received only 47 votes, all Republicans.  Opposing it were Dems and Repubs Specter and Jim Bunning (KY).  Finally a Coburn (OK) Amendment was tabled by 71 votes; it would have "authorize(d) funding for the Emergency Communications and Interoperability Grants program, to require the Secretary to examine the possibility of allowing commercial entities to develop public safety communications networks, and for other purposes."  A healthy dose of Republicans joined Dems to kill it.

A busy day for the Senate yesterday, with three votes and Kind Abdullah of Jordan addressing a joint session of Congress.