Defense Appropriation Bill Defeated

By Semperpapa

Today the Senate voted for cloture on the Defense Appropriation Bill, and the bill was defeated by a vote of 56 to 43, failing to reach the 60 necessary to pass.
This bill was controversial, not because of the appropriation clauses of it, but because Senate Majority leader Harry Reid had recently attached to it two controversial bills: the DREAM Act and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law repeal bill.

The DREAM act is basically a amnesty bill for illegal aliens who have graduated from High School and have proved moral conduct for five years. They also must have entered the United States as minors. Also covered by the DREAM Act are those who have served in the United States Military and have received a honorable discharge.

Also attached to the bill was an attempt to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law regarding homosexuals serving in the Military and openly admitting their sexuality.

I am going to refrain from addressing the specifics of the two additions to the Defense Appropriation Bill at this time. Instead I am now more interested in the dynamics of this vote.
Just few days ago, Harry Reid had declared his intension to add the two controversial issues to the main bill, but today he was one of the Democrats who voted against it.

So what is going on? It has become a liberal modus operandi for some of these liberal politicians to introduce legislation and vote against it. Charlie Rengal has done so twice, introducing legislature to re-instate the Military Draft and both times voting against his own bill.

It is my belief that Reid has done so with the sole purpose of confusing the American voters in view of the upcoming Elections, knowing well that the opposition would vote against the bill and he could then point the accusatory finger at them.
Also, he voted against it reserving the right to have another voting session later in the year. Basically, his plan is to re-visit the bill after the elections. This is all to Reid's advantage, because if the Democrats take the beating that everyone is predicting in November, the lame duck Congress will be able to pass all sort of obnoxious legislation before they are escorted from out of Capitol Hill.
At the same time, if the Democrats maintain the majority in Congress or just in the Senate Reid will bring the legislation up for vote again under the banner of the will of the people.

In both eventualities, Reid is just playing politics with the funding of our Military, and that is surely nothing new.

What I thought earlier today, as the now infected Defense Bill was defeated, was that it would show leadership on the part of the Republicans in the Senate to as quickly as possible introduce a real Defense Bill.

But so far I have seen nothing.

This bring me to my fear for the aftermath of the November elections.

I am convinced that the democrats will loose both the Senate and the House, which is going to foster the conditions for the outgoing Congress to cram as much ill-conceived legislation through the procedural process as possible in the interim period between the Elections in November and the seating of the new Congress in January 2011.
I fear that the scorned outgoing fools will be able to inflict even greater damage to our country with inpunity.

I guess that is a potential problem that I am willing to face if the result of a devastating loss of the Liberals at the voting polls. The most important thing is to clense Congress of the putrid anti-American crowd that is infecting those sacred Halls these days.

Just my thoughts!