(Updated) All Night Long: Confronting Repub Obstruction

UPDATE 10:40 AM: This morning, Repub Senators voted to stop a vote on the Levin-Reed troop withdrawal measure. Here's the roll call on cloture. It failed by a 52 Aye - 47 Nay margin because 60 votes were needed to break the Repub filibuster. An Aye vote for cloture supports allowing a vote on the amendment. Only 4 Repubs voted Aye: Collins (R-ME), Hagel (R-NE), Smith (R-OR) and Snowe (R-ME). All Dems voted Aye except for Reid, who ended up voting nay for parliamentary reasons to keep the process alive. Mr. Independent, Joe Lieberman, voted Nay. Harold Meyerson at the Washington Post has a scathing commentary on the all-talk-no-action Repubs, including Domenici.

As reported at Talking Points Memo, Reid has decided to hold back any further votes on the Defense Authorization bill or other amendments until Repubs permit a vote on the Levin-Reed amendment:

Ratcheting up the stakes in the wake of the GOP's successful blocking of a vote on Iraq withdrawal just moments ago, Harry Reid just announced on the Senate floor that he won't allow a vote on the entire Defense Authorization bill until the Senate GOP drops its filibustering of votes on Iraq.

The move is significant because it could hold up the funding of the Pentagon's fiscal 2008 priorities until the standoff is resolved.

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Last night's vigil in DC. AFP/Getty.

The Senate "debate" against the Repub filibuster to stop an up or down vote on the Levin-Reed amendment went all night long and continues this morning. At one point last night, Democrats from both the Senate and House joined citizens, including many Iraq vets, holding a candlelight vigil outside the Capitol. There were 57 House members and 25 Senators at the vigil. Here's a of excerpts from their speeches. Dems are calling on Repub Senators who are criticizing Bush and the occupation, like Sen. Domenici, to vote for change instead of merely paying lip service in order to garner political cover.

Click to read Nancy Pelosi's speech at the vigil. Excerpt:

We are gathered here tonight in a ‘Candlelight Call to Action.’ As we stand here with our call to action, on the Senate floor the Republicans are impeding the opportunity for the voices of the American people to be heard by denying a vote against the President’s policy in Iraq. That is why we are here – to send a message to the American people that the reason it is impossible to put the legislation on the President’s desk over and over again is because over and over again the Republicans in the United States Senate say ‘No’ to the American people. They will not allow a vote on bringing the troops home.

Sen. Dick Durbin, among others, is urging citizens to call the offices of a list of Senators who voice serious concerns about Bush's Iraq occupation but who won't allow a vote on the Levin-Reed amendment. Not surprisingly, Sen. Pete Domenici is on the list.

Domenici voted this morning to stop a vote on the Levin-Reed amendment. Please call and urge him to stop filibustering the Levin-Reed amendment:
Washington DC Office: (202) 224-6621
Website email form

Huffington Post is hosting a live web chat about the Iraq occupation today at Noon Mountain Time with MoveOn's Tom Matzzi, who's currently on loan to Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, a coalition working to responsibly end the war that includes, MoveOn, the Service Employees International Union, VoteVets.org, Americans United, USAction, Win Without War, National Security Network, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Working Assets, TrueMajority and others. The group has a budget of $12 million through September and is operating in 27 states, including New Mexico, on a project called Iraq Summer. You can submit questions now at livechat@huffingtonpost.com.

Here in Albuquerque, Iraq Summer helped organize an activist gathering yesterday at San Mateo and Montgomery to rally citizens to urge Domenici to vote to start bringing our troops home from Iraq. Also, Stop the War Machine organized an evening demonstration at Sen. Domenici's downtown Albuquerque office to urge him to replace his rhetoric with real action to end the occupation.