ESTATE TAX/MINIMUM WAGE BILL DEFEATED

[LSK]

Motion to proceed to vote = 56 Yeah, 42 No

60 votes needed to proceed.

This is HR5970.

Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to Consider H.R.5970; Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of 2006

Roll Call 00229

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/r...



Link to CSPAN debate thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Maat]

1. This is good news! (n/t)

[Beetwasher]

2. Who Were The Two Dems That Voted FOR It?

n/t

[LSK]

8. The Nelson idiots

Some folks thought they heard Byrd vote Yeah too.

[brg5001]

50. Bill Nelson (D-Fla) supports eliminating estate tax (unfortunately)

Yes, it's true.

I've previously expressed my concerns about his estate tax position directly to Sen. Nelson. While I think he would be amenable to a compromise that raises the amount exempt from the tax rather than eliminating it entirely, that option has not been presented by the ineffectual Republican senate leadership (of course).

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way: He voted for the ill-conceived Flag Protection Amendment and supports permanent repeal of the estate tax where no compromise is allowed to be voted upon.

Still, Sen. Nelson is a powerful Democratic voice for Florida due to his support for comprehensive property insurance reform, his pressure to eliminate of the idiotic doughnut hole in the Medicare Plan D Rx coverage, and to reform the entire pharma-authored Rx program such that the government would be forced to negotiate for maximum drug discounts instead of ensuring maximum drug industry profits at taxpayer expense, and his threat to filibuster any effort by the conference committeee (dominated by the House's oil-happy ideologues) to weaken the environmental safeguards in plans to drill for oil anywhere off Florida's coasts. He has also pressed for a full investigation of FEMA's mis-spending and no-bid contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It's also worth noting that Sen. Bill voted against Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court, and against the disgraceful Federal Marriage Protection Amendment.

Bill is also our bulwark against KATHERINE HARRIS, that bizarre "thing" that is best-described as a mental patient who exhibits the multiple personalities of SCTV character Lola Heatherton, Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, and the original Tammy Faye Bakker during the PTL years. As you know, Ms. Harris is a supreme entertainer who draws her suppor from wingnut conspiracy buffs upset with the Republican party's official position toward her, which is that she is a candidate who cannot win. She blames it all on the fact that (get this) the Repubican party machine is anti-Christian. (Insert cuckoo clocks here). Bye for now, yall...

[IronLionZion]

55. Byrd, Lincoln, and both Nelsons

Byrd and Lincoln have poor constituents who could really use the increased wage.

Lieberman and Baucus chickened out. I wish our legislators could vote by videoconferencing or something. We need 100% attendence on these important votes.

[LSK]

57. actually this was a vote for closure - needed 60 Yea votes

So if a Dem wasn't there, he could not have voted Yea and therefore that is what we needed. If all the Dems would not have voted (an exaggeration), then it would have worked for us too.

[Cobalt Violet]

Dupe.

[Cobalt Violet]

3. Excellent.

Too many poison pills in that bill.

[MissWaverly]

4. Oh, boo hoo for all the richie, rich folks who won't get a free ride

it's about time, I only wish the minimum wage could have passed, the working poor need it.

[mom cat]

24. Their spaun will hav to pay de deaf tax. Po wittle tings!

[RB TexLa]

31. Because it's morally right if someone inherits a family business

valued at $4M they should have to pay the government $1.1M to get it.

[MissWaverly]

56. well, they can't take it with them

so they'll just have to rapture w/o their mastercard

[Rose Siding]

5. The Democrats withstood tremendous pressure on this bill

It had been tailored and manipulated to meet some very specific needs of individual senators. That it failed makes me more hopeful than I can remember! They voted their principles in the clutch. I could weep.

[Patchuli]

6. GOOD!!!! nt

[Erika]

7. And the GOP is responsible for not raising the minimum wage

in 9 years. the GOP slogan "let them eat cake"

[Justice Is Comin]

9. The Frist cool caper cloture crock got clocked by the congress.

[vanboggie]

33. Love your donkey graphic :) n/t

[chill_wind]

34. LOL!!! Darned if I dont't adore those darling devilish dancing donkeys.

The Prosperous Family Act engineered to benefit solely some 7000 beleaguered billionaire families rightfully crashes and burns. It STUNK!

[freethought]

10. BOOOOYAAAHHH!!!

Great News! I was watching the debate on C-Span.

[pinto]

11. Beauty. Hoist 'em on their own petard. Kudos!

[bdamomma]

12. bittersweet results

more heartache for the poor and the middle class (the middle class will serve to be non existent after bush is done with us) but good news about the tax cuts being defeated, these jerks do not need any more of our money.

[Rose Siding]

13. This bill would have cut income of some min wage workers

-in some states, who depend on tips.

It was a dog. Now the repubs can't campaign on a "success", and they still clearly retain the rep of being on the side of the wealthy. When dems hold together this way, they have a better chance of taking Congress and passing a real min wage hike, unencumbered with Republican garbage.

[skids]

22. Passing it was not their intention...

...they made a "hail mary" attempt to get it passed by trying to bribe some dems, sure, but they were planning on it failing.

Now they turn around and use it to bash the Dems for "voting against the minimum wage."

Sure lots of people are onto them -- even the more sophisticated of the MSM have pointed this out.

But that's not who they are trying to fool. This is intended to bolster support among the backwash -- numbnuts that get their political opinions spoonfed to them. They hope by having all those folks parroting this line that it will get the more gullible of the fence sitters to vote R.

And unless we yell very loudly -- very, very loudly until it sinks in -- that this bill was poisoned and would have lowered wages for tip-takers (or more to the point, allowed employers to claim there are tips in a job that there really aren't) it could end up being effective.

So keep yellin it.

There's only so much time before the figure out a similar vector of attack on immigration, helping their threatened incumbants shake off the "rubber stamp" label, so we need to boil it down to a five word sound byte and yell it hard.

[Justice Is Comin]

18. If we get the House, minimum wage flys through

like a bowling ball on graphite. Because if we don't regain the Senate too, we're sure as hell going to come close. The republicans will be choking on our dust.

[RB TexLa]

14. So now no hope of either passing?

[LSK]

16. probably not, the house will probably sneak it into something else now

Congress is about to go on vacation anyways. Its dead for now.

[theHandpuppet]

15. Thanks to all DUers who called their Senators!

You rock, folks!

[theHandpuppet]

19. By the way -- don't forget those follow-up calls!

Make sure to thank those Senators who voted NO to this shameless ploy by the GOP.

[LSK]

20. and call the Nelsons and ask them WTF

[Schema Thing]

17. booyah!

[flaminbats]

21. excellent work Democrats!!

and everytime Republicans blame us for not raising the minimum wage, ask "why they wanted to cut $75 billion a year from our troops currently suffering in Iraq?"

[SeattleGirl]

23. Great news!

Heard on the local news, shortly before the vote, that both my senators, Murray AND Cantwell, were going to vote against the bill. Good on 'em.

[man4allcats]

25. Well, maybe my signing of Gov. Dean's petition in which I

advised my two hardcore repuke senators to get off their dead asses and do the right thing may have actually done some good. In the case of them though, probably not - Hutchison and Cornyn of Texas. What a pair of losers!

[LSK]

26. roll call vote is up

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/r...

The defectors are Byrd, Lincoln and the Nelson idiots.

[theanarch]

40. and let's not forget the GOP defectors...

...Chafee (RI)--no real surprise here; Voinovich (Ohio)--something of a surprise; and (hope you're sitting down) FRIST (TN)...anyone have any ideas here? Also, not voting: Baucus (D-MT)--death in the family; and Leiberman (DINO-CT)--death of his political career.

[LSK]

41. Frist did it as a procedural thing

You will see a lot of votes of his on our side. Something about bringing it back on the table at a future date.

[theanarch]

43. if so, it wasn't very bright on his part...

...rich people don't need the extra money, and the GOP doesn't give a flying fuck about working people anyway, so the issue can wait until the next congress to be dragged from its crypt. Of course, we all know that in the GOP primary season of '08, all of Frist's opponents will hang this vote around his neck like the proverbial albatross, and won't be buying his "procedural" explanation. Worse yet, Democrat's can use his "no" vote this year, claiming it was such a bad bill that even its sponsor voted against it (shades of Hillary and flag-burning?)...and let Frist cry about his real position being misrepresented (boo-hoo).

[spanone]

27. They will now paint the democrats as being against a min. wage increase.

Spin spin spin

[hughee99]

28. Boy, a lot of excitement here...

I'm sure those who make minimum wage are dancing in the streets, after all, the rich aren't going to get their tax breaks.

[LSK]

32. who do you think was going to pay for that tax break?

$800b shortfall in revenue was coming from where exactly??? LEt me guess, the middle class and their future children.

Also do you care to comment on the rules including tips in the minimum wage that was in the bill?

The Dems will pass a no strings attached bill next year.

[hughee99]

35. Sure, I'll comment on the rules including tips...

As someone who worked for tips for many years, I wouldn't have been thrilled about it, but I also made a good bit more than the minimum wage because of tips. A person who works 8 hours for minimum wage will make the minimum wage * 8 and will have to declare all of it on their taxes. A person who works for tips, in almost any job on almost every day will make more than the minimum wage for an 8 hour shift and may or may not declare it on their taxes. Who needs the raise more?

Look, politically, this is a big win for us, and I'm not denying that I'm glad the bill was defeated, I'm just not reveling in the fact that minimum wage workers will have to wait even longer for relief. I'll wait to see if we get a "no strings" bill next year. I imagine that even if we retake congress, and I think we will, we will not have such a majority that we won't have to make any deals.

[Tactical Progressive]

29. This will clear the way to a real minimum wage bill

and probably bolster Democrats fall election appeal for doing so.

My guess: low wage earners have traded a six month wait for a better, sooner, larger increase in the minimum wage, and motivation to go out and vote to help get it.

And the rest of us don't have to live under the blackmail and increasing unfairness of a system geared entirely towards undeservedly enriching the already rich.

[PinkyisBlue]

48. I want to see the minimum wage increased to $10.00 per hour.

(Maybe with an exception for teenagers, where the minimum wage could be $7.00 per hour). This would raise the pay scale for ALL wage earners, even those making more than minimum wage. Heck, our babysitters charge $7.00 per hour to watch two kids. I would like to see decent fairness back in the system, where all workers are able to benefit from a company's economic growth, not just those at the top.

[YOY]

30. So now the Pubs can all say they

'Voted ot raise the minimum wage, but THOSE LIBERALS STOPPED THEM!!!'

You know they'll spin it this way.

[Bretttido]

36. Good news, and they even lost a yay from last time

the estate tax was proposed. Calling my senators tomorrow to give them my support!

[hyphenate]

37. It's too fucking bad the assholes on the right

brought the minimum wage bill and combined the shit-assed estate tax with it. People need genuine relief in the minimum wage area, and instead because of the fucking rich assholes, they end up once again not getting the increase they need.

[SoCalDem]

38. EVERY republican ad will say "DEMS VOTED DOWN minimum wage bill"

I sincerely hope congress starts putting SINGLE ISSUES to vote.. THAT would be something dems SHOULD use in their ads this fall..

something like:


"Republicans, who currently CONTROL EVERYTHING, "use" important issues that you all care about, as POISON pills for their spendthrift bills for their rich buddies.. They KNOW we will have to vote against giving yet another handout to their rich friends, so they deliberately add important legislation that THEY HATE onto those bills"

It's like offering someone an ice cream sundae......with shit sprinkles on top..

[emmadoggy]

52. ROFL!!

"It's like offering someone an ice cream sundae...with shit sprinkles on top.."

Perfect analogy!

[ComerPerro]

39. Yay. Just in time for the elections, Republicans can now claim

that Dems voted against raising the minimum wage.

[Redbear]

42. It wont work

People know who supports a real minimum wage and who doesn't

[ComerPerro]

44. people don't know shit. They know talking points from ads

After the public bought into the whole "Kerry is a flip flopper" bullshit, why do you think they will actually get off their lazy asses and learn the truth of these votes?

[Warren DeMontague]

45. Cool! So instead of Paris Hilton getting all that money, it can go to the

Defense Department. It can go to Halliburton. It can go to Bechtel.



It can go to Iraq (and then come back in a no-bid contractor's duffel bag) What are we at, now, over there- $300 Billion?



It can go to the DEA, for a $40 Billion dollar a year drug war aimed primarily at pot smokers.

Yippeee!

More cash to kick in the doors of weed smokin' cancer grannies. More cash for a Prison-Industrial complex to make us the envy of the nonviolent-offender-incarceratin' world! More cash for Alberto Gonzales to wage war on public enemy #1, i.e. Terrorists... er, sorry, Gonzo Porn producers from San Bernadino.

Hooray!

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'd love to see that money pay for a SPHC system. I'd love to see it pay down the deficit. For fuck's sake, I'd like to see it pay for cutting edge science, medical research, and even the peaceful exploration of the Solar System.

But if it's between letting Paris Hilton piss it away on handbags and nail jobs and letting Donald Rumsfeld have it..

...Shit...

Do I have to decide right now?

Look, I'm glad we were able to muster the votes to stop SOMETHING. Too bad we couldn't do the same to keep, say, the far right pro-lifers off the Supreme Court.

Wow. I guess the one thing (the only thing?) we all can get behind is how much we hate Paris Hilton.

Maybe if we start winning elections, our party will find the collective motivation to do something about that other stuff- you know, the deficit, the bullshit drug war, universal health coverage, the $500 Billion-a-year Military Industrial Complex.

Maybe.

[LSK]

46. you dont understand

The GOP wants to give Paris her money AND keeping giving money to the Defense Department. They were going to do BOTH!!!

Their plan was to borrow MORE from China.

[Warren DeMontague]

47. I agree 100%.

Problem is, it's hard for me to get too worked up about it when I know where the cash is going.

Sort of a pyrrhic victory.

Would that we could get as excited to actually DO something about some of that shit. Like I said, maybe if we get control of Congress this fall. Maybe.

[VP505]

49. I just hope

that the National leadership gets out in front on this BEFORE the Reich wing starts spinning it any more than they already have. Every ad run by every candidate ought to include some mention of how the Repukes tried to hose minimum wage workers, especially those who depend on tips for part of their income. Everyone should Email, FAX or call the defectors that voted for cloture and the two that didn't vote and tell them what you think! Byrd (D-WV), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Lincoln (D-AR) and the two who didn't vote Lieberman (Dino-CT), Baucus (D-MT).

[wryter2000]

51. Byrd, Lincoln, Nelson, and Nelson

What is the matter with these ^&*)()(*()&&? I've said all along that Lieberman is the only one who deserves some serious repercussions for his behavior, but any Dem who voted for this ought to be shown the light in a primary. There's no effing excuse for a vote for this measure. None. And make no mistake...this was the vote, because if it had come to a simple majority vote, the repugs would have passed this abomination.

OTOH, good for Chafee and Voinovich for showing some nads.

[TankLV]

53. The media whores are already trying to spin it - but this time it's not

working.

Too much information already out there.

Only the most blatent repuke lap dogs are trying to spin this thing - all the other ones grudgingly have to report that the bill had the poison pills included for the wealthy AS WELL AS the part about how the hourly workers would LOSE in the "minimum wage" part.

It's really delicious.

The repukes gambled and lost BIG TIME to the Dems on this one!

[jsamuel]

54. Thank God!