Victory Again - Amnesty Immigration Bill Rejected in Senate

By a vote of 46-53, the Senate majority rejected cloture today and stopped the Senate Immigration Bill (S 1639). A great victory. 40 NO votes were needed to beat this cloture vote. Instead, there were 53! 18 Senators who vote YES on amnesty cloture on Tuesday switched to NO today! Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor voted No - thank you. Unfortunately, Arkansas Senator Lincoln evidently did not wish to hear the majority voice of Arkansans and voted Yes.

USA TODAY's Kathy Kiely reported that "two cabinet secretaries -- Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff and Commerce's Carlos Gutierrez -- were posted outside the chamber and lobbying lawmakers as they went in to vote on the president's immigration proposal." However, their actions were not successful. Voting to allow the bill to proceed by ending debate were 33 Democrats, 12 Republicans and 1 independent. Voting to block the bill by not limiting debate were 37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and 1 independent. 1 member did not vote.

YEAs ---46
Akaka (D-HI) Bennett (R-UT) Biden (D-DE) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Clinton (D-NY) Conrad (D-ND) Craig (R-ID) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Graham (R-SC)	Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL)	McCain (R-AZ) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Obama (D-IL) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Salazar (D-CO) Schumer (D-NY) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---53
Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bingaman (D-NM) Bond (R-MO) Brown (D-OH) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Corker (R-TN)	Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Grassley (R-IA) Harkin (D-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Landrieu (D-LA) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK)	Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stabenow (D-MI) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Webb (D-VA)

Not Voting - 1: Johnson (D-SD)

Some comments from the senate floor before and after the vote:
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN): Americans feel they are losing their country ... to a government that has seemed to not have the competence or the ability to carry out the things that it says it will do.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC): Many Americans "don't have confidence" that borders . . . will be significantly tightened. It's not just promises but proof that the American people want.
Sen Ted Kennedy (D-MA): It is now clear that we are not going to complete our work on immigration reform. That is enormously disappointing . . . We'll be back!

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