Amnesty Battle

We lost the first skirmish in the 2007 Amnesty Battle on Monday evening.

The Senate voted 69-23 for cloture on a motion to skip the committee process and bring the Kennedy/Bush/Kyle (KBK) Amnesty (S. 1348) to the Senate floor for debate and amendments all this week and then another week in June.

We needed a switch of 10 votes to have killed it on the spot. (You will want to look at the list of YES voters and see if one of your two Senators is on it. If so, your job the next three weeks is move that Senator into the NO column.)

Don't be discouraged by how far we missed on this one. We would have done better, but Majority Leader Reid (D-Nev.) backed down under Republican pressure and relented on his earlier insistence that the debate and final votes on the amnesty be finished this week.

The delay is good for us in that it gives all of you much more time to express your outrage at the giant amnesty and foreign worker increase that was engineered behind closed doors.

THE HERO SENATORS OF THE DAY

The fact that these 23 Senators voted NO and didn't want the KBK Amnesty bill to even be debated suggests they have a hard-core opposition to the bill and are to be congratulated.

And you are to be congratulated to if you live in one of their states, because they wouldn't have voted against Democratic Leader Reid, Republican Leader McConnell (R-KY) and President Bush if it hadn't been for the pressure that you and your fellow state voters put on these NO Senators.

VOTED NO AGAINST BRINGING AMNESTY TO SENATE FLOOR

Alabama:
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay

Colorado: Allard (R-CO), Nay
Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Nay

Kansas: Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Vitter (R-LA), Nay

Montana:
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Nay

New Hampshire: Sununu (R-NH), Nay
North Carolina: Dole (R-NC), Nay

North Dakota: Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Oklahoma:
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay

South Carolina: DeMint (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota: Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee: Corker (R-TN), Nay

Texas:
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay

Vermont: Sanders (I-VT), Nay
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Nay

Wyoming:
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Thomas (R-WY), Nay

I am especially gratified to see the NO vote from Democrat Sen. Tester (D-Mont.) who defeated a Republican incumbent last year. Interestingly, he brought veteran Democratic Senator Maucus (D-Mont.) with him on this vote.

And the sole new Republican Senator -- Corker (R-GA) -- also voted NO.

THESE SENATORS VOTED 'YES' BUT SEVERAL ARE ON OUR SIDE

We can't be sure exactly where all of these Senators stand. Most of them are fully committed to rewarding illegal aliens. But some have grave doubts about S. 1348. Because of their relationship with the Senate leaders of their political party, they honored the party request that on this procedural vote the Senators resist trying to block it.

Several have said if the Senate fails to make key amendments to the amnesty bill, they will have to pull off the bill.

That will be our hope. In the meantime, you will need to spend a lot of time with Senator(s) on this list from your state, making sure they promise to vote NO on the final passage.

Alaska:
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Yea

Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea

California:
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea

Colorado: Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea

Florida: Martinez (R-FL), Yea
Georgia:
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea

Hawaii:
Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Yea

Idaho: Craig (R-ID), Yea
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Indiana:
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea

Iowa:
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea

Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky: McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea

Maine:
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea

Maryland:
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea

Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Yea
Michigan:
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea

Minnesota:
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea

Mississippi:
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Yea

Missouri:
Bond (R-MO), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea

Nebraska:
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea

Nevada:
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea

New Hampshire:
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Nay

New Jersey:
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea

New Mexico:
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea

New York: Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Yea
North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea

Ohio:
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea

Oregon:
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Yea

Pennsylvania:
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea

Rhode Island:
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea

South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Yea
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Utah:
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Yea

Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Virginia:
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea

Washington:
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea

Wisconsin:
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea

MANY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES NOT VOTING

Biden (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dodd (D-CT)

Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)

Nelson (D-FL)
Obama (D-IL)