Did the Senate vote on extended unemployment benefits yesterday?

[Racenut20]

I don't know the links to track Congressional votes, If anyone knows them right off.

[Dookus]

1. Yes they did.

and it didn't pass.

[AnnitaR]

2. Kerry didn't vote

AND it failed by one vote.

[Racenut20]

4. That is bad on the surface, but...

Often a Senator or Congressman can miss a vote by arrangement with another who is going to vote opposite, so that neither attend the voting session and there is not harm done. But on a matter so dear to Democrats platform, I would not think this a good choice. Think Senator was in Jacksonville raising bookoo money last night, and will continue Florida campaign today.

[izzie]

5. And the Republicans voted for it?

Come on, Kerry should have but did he really kill it? We know who did not want it.

[Orangepeel]

6. as I understand it, this vote was a trap

the bill gave additional huge tax breaks to corporations, and had the unemployment extension in it as a way to try to get Democratic support (or screw them over if they didn't vote for it)

[salin]

8. some trap.. the corporate taxes passed anyway - and the energy bill

or BIG parts of it - got tagged on. Sadly, they lost the battle AND the war on this one. *sigh*

I posted a story in LBN per what was passed (from western state news sources so the articles were focusing on the passage of the energy bill within the corporate tax bill.)

[KG]

3. guess who didn't vote at all.

[papau]

7. Baucus helped GOP end filibuster in return for UE vote - knowing it

would lose.

The GOP allowed enough folks to join with Dems to make it look like it almost passed - and we would have a "blame Kerry" moment.
sigh...


Dangerous perhaps to the GOP ideal of screwing the poor - cause it could have pased if anything goes wrong - but the back-up was knowing that any UE benefit would be stripped in House/Senate conference - so no real danger.

It was cute move by Baucus(D) - the GOP worked the good feeling many Dem's have toward McCain so as to have an additional reason to let the vote go forward. Seems McCain wanted a vote on the energy company welfare giveaway amendment and could only get one if the Dem's backed off and let the Bill go forward to votes.

So that amendment lost big as mid-west GOP and Dems showed their love of corn as a fuel for cars.

[papau]

9. The 59 to 40 vote was to exclude UE benefits from deficit budget rules

it would not have passed the actual benefit extention.