The vote to reconsider cloture — to reconsider whether or not to vote on repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — came up just moments ago, and Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled a bit of a fast one: he put an end to negotiations that had been in the works.
The vote failed, 57-40.
Senator Collins tried to stop him but Reid was frustrated and adamant. Unlike Republican Senators Brown and Murkowski, who had said they would vote “yes,” but voted “no,” Collins voted in favor of cloture, but her vote wasn’t sufficient to stem the tide of Republican “no” votes.
This did not have to happen this way, but perhaps Reid needed to draw a line in the sand. It’s possible this might come up again in the lame duck, but that’s unclear right now.
Stay tuned, more to come… I’ll update with some specifics on this post shortly.
The New Civil Rights Movement
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