Reid: All-Night Debate If Repubs Block Vote on War Amendment

At last. Some spunk on the part of Senate Dems. And a real filibuster! If Repub Senators follow through on their threat to block an up or down vote on the Reed-Levin troop redeployment amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will use a parliamentary maneuver to devote up to 30 hours to a full debate on the issues to call attention to the Repub obstructionism:

[Reid] just announced on the Senate floor that he's invoking cloture on the Reed-Levin troop redeployment bill and, if the Republicans filibuster it tomorrow, he's going to force the Senate into an all-night session -- with cots brought in and everything -- to make them stand up in public for their beliefs.  Unless they agree to a simple-majority vote on Reed-Levin, the Senate stays in ongoing session ... Senate Democrats are prepared to speak all night and to force Republicans to stay in the chamber by invoking ongoing quorum calls.

I like it! Who knows what it will actually mean in terms of getting our troops out of Iraq, but at least it appears that Reid et al., have finally gotten it on some level that they need to make some noise to show how strongly they feel about ending this thing:

"Now, Republicans are using a filibuster to block us from even voting on an amendment that could bring the war to a responsible end," said Reid. "They are protecting the President rather than protecting our troops. They are denying us an up or down - yes or no - vote on the most important issue our country faces."

The Reed-Levin amendment to the Department of Defense (DoD) Authorization Bill requires George W. Bush to "commence the reduction of the number of United States forces in Iraq not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act" and mandates a withdrawal of most combat forces by April 30, 2008.

... The legislation, S.AMDT.2087, has bipartisan support and is cosponsored by Gordon Smith (R-OR), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

It's a start. Keeping the pressure on our Dem Senators about the occupation appears to be bearing some fruit, despite last week's capitulation on Lieberman's awful Iran amendment. You know what to do.

Sen. Dick Durban explains the Dems' move.