| Sen. Hutchison Votes with Democrats to Stop Filibusters |
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| by Tom McGregor | Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 02:45 PM |
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According to the Dallas Morning News, "the congressional session is nearly at an end, and Democrats are desperate to pass some form of health care reform before the year is up. Likewise, Republicans are pushing every effort to stopp the health care bill, including filibusters unrelated to health care." Republicans organized a filibuster on the 2010 defense spending bill late last night and early this morning. Yet when a vote came up to end debate - and accordingly, clear the way for possible action on health care. Apparently, Sen. Hutchison, along with two other Republicans and all Democrats in voting to halt the filibuster. The Morning News quotes Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman, as saying that, "another day, another broken promise by Sen. Hutchison. After promising to filibuster health care, Sen. Htuchison abandoned her pledge and voted with Democrats to bring the health care bill one step closer to reality." Jeff Sadosky, a Hutchison spokesman, said that she voted with the Democrats since they secured the votes necessary to break the filibuster. Perhaps, she is signalling that she will take the same approach when the Senate finally votes on ObamaCare, 'cap-and-trade' bill and other legislation endorsed by President Obama. She appears to follow the aged-old adage, "if you can't beat them, join them." Perry's camp contends that the vote had been a missed opportunity to derail the Democrats' health care plan. Hutchison's camp disagrees, but did concur that her vote against the filibuster indirectly helps the Democrats pass the health care bill. To read the entire article from the Dallas Morning News, link here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 
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Comments (8)
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written by Mike O , December 19, 2009 That hammering you hear is anoth nail going into the coffin of her political future.
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written by furrpiece , December 19, 2009 It's about 9:30 AM, Dallas time, on a cold Saturday. Less than one hour ago, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska became the 60th vote for health care reform Obama style (and, by the way, Socialist style). It APPEARS that Sen. Hutchison, by her vote, cleared the way for health to be voted on. I don't know why she did this, and will listen carefully to her explanation, but it APPEARS she voted with the Democrats to get health care voted on quickly so she could be home at Christmas to campaign against Rick Perry in Texas.
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written by George W. Seevers, Jr. , December 19, 2009 Do you suppose that Republican Michael Williams will mention this when he runs against her in the primary?
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written by Shadrach , December 20, 2009 Okay, this takes the cake. The GOP for years has been the Party of Defense. Now, in order to make a petty political point and keep the Democrats from passing a health bill before Christmas, they are willing to play politics with our troops. As a Persian Gulf veteran that really ticks me off. Shame on the GOP for throwing our troops under the bus for a cheap political stunt and Shame on Perry for using it against KBH that she was actually a statesman and not a political hack. For the record, KBH said she would filibuster Health Care Reform, not our troops ability to fight war. Our men and women in uniform are not political pawns. They are human beings who are making big sacrifices, and I for one thing it is not asking too much to make sure they get the equipment and pay they deserve.
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written by furrpiece , December 20, 2009 If ObamaCare passes, which seems likely, I think Sen. Hutchison will hear about this vote from several people.
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written by Paul Perry , December 20, 2009 Hey folks it is all her and what she wants for herself. It is the same with tricky ricky.
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written by furrpiece , December 21, 2009 Shadrach, in my opinion you're a smart guy, despite your political leanings. So, you should know that feigning outrage over your own party's parliamentary maneuvers in the name of the military is a waste of time and bytes. It is Harry Reid and Democratic floor managers who loaded the defense appropriations bill up with pork and fat and earmarks as a cynical attempt to force Republicans to vote for them. It is also Harry Reid who kept the Health Bill in play right until Christmas Eve when there was no emergency. If you knew anything about how Congress works, you would know whether the Defense Appropriations Bill passed before Christmas or after Christmas makes absolutely no difference in when the money would be spent over a year from now. It is Democrats who have consistently cut military and intelligence budgets, and it is Democrats who have consistently pulled-back on defense systems our troops need to do their job. Just last week, Obama pulled the super bunker-busting bomb from it's scheduled in-service debut by six months, putting off by more than half-a-year when we could attack N. Korea or the Islamic Republic of Iran to prevent their launching nuclear attacks. As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on this vote by Hutchison. I'm waiting to hear what she has to say for herself. But, there is NO QUESTION who allowed earmarks and pork in the Defense Appropriations Bill. So, I guess you might as well be reading from their daily talking points. P.S. I also served in the military and have watched for years Democrats taking money away from the DOD and spending it on social programs. Your pal, Bill Clinton, so decimated the military and our intelligence agencies that it took Bush almost six years to restore them to necessary manning documents and readiness. It is also Democrats who pulled funding from the military with our troops fighting and dying in the field and needing every bit of support they could get. Accusing Republicans of what Democrats do is soooo last century.
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written by Shadrach , December 23, 2009 Furrpiece, If both parties do it; it does not make it right. Maybe the military spending bill would have been passed on time. Probably so. But the GOP was filibustering the military to delay a different bill. This is simply wrong. Both parties cut certain military projects to favor others. I served during GOP presidencies, and still had plenty of funding gripes. This year the GOP SecDef raised spending, but was obliterated in the RWM because of cuts in certain areas to offset increases in others. Point is that KBH was right to not filibuster a military spending bill, and Perry is wrong to attack for it. Write comment
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Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tx.) identifies herself as a 'true conservative' when she campaigns for governor of Texas, but she had recently sided with Democrats on the Senate floor to help President Barack Obama meet his so-called Christmas deadline of passing his health care legislation.
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