Senate Proceeds To S.1323, Amendment Tree Filled and Cloture Filed

The Senate has just agreed to proceed to the consideration of S.1323, a bill expressing the sense of the Senate on shared sacrifice in deficit reduction, by a vote of 69-27. The bill is now open for debate. Below find the bill's purpose, procedural considerations, and vote results.

Bill Purpose
Expresses the sense of the Senate, saying that people making $1,000,000 or more per year should share the sacrifice of deficit reduction with lower and middle class people. A yea vote basically means that you think increased tax revenue from millionaires should be on the table in addition to everything else that's been discussed.

Reid "Fills The Tree," Preventing Dilatory Amendments
Because of the risk of large numbers of dilatory amendments offered by the opposition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "filled the tree" by calling up a sufficient number of amendments to restrict the ability of other Senators to offer their amendments. In addition, Senator Reid filed a cloture motion which would impose a timeline for ending the debate if agreed to. The vote should come later this week.

Here are the vote results:

69 yeas, 27 nays, 4 not voting
All Democrats voted in the affirmative except Senator Sherrod Brown (OH), who was necessarily absent, and Senator Ben Nelson (NE) - a Blue Dog Democrat.

Republicans voting yea (18):
Lamar Alexander (TN), Scott Brown (MA), Richard Burr (NC), Dan Coats (IN), Susan Collins (ME), Bob Corker (TN), John Cornyn (TX), Lindsey Graham (SC), John Hoeven (ND), Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), Mike Johanns (NE), Mark Kirk (IL), Jon Kyl (AZ), John McCain (AZ), Mitch McConnell (KY), Jeff Sessions (AL), Olympia Snowe (ME), John Thune (SD)

As we explained in an earlier post, several conservative Republicans are voting for the procedural steps to move the bill along in spite of their opposition to the bill because of their desire to have a budget debate. However, as we predicted, Republican votes are decreasing. See our previous coverage: http://ow.ly/5BAJe

The following Republicans switched their intial yea vote from last week to a nay:
Thad Cochran (MS), Chuck Grassley (IA), Richard Lugar (IN), Jerry Moran (KS), Pat Roberts (KS), Richard Shelby (AL)

The following Republicans were necessarily absent:
Lisa Murkowski (AK), David Vitter (LA), Marco Rubio (FL)

Other National Debt Posts:
Why The Gang of Six Proposal Has The Best Chance of Passing the House and Senate