For several days now, Senate Republicans have ridiculed their Democratic counterparts for prioritizing campaign finance legislation over a bill that would benefit small businesses, arguing that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was putting electoral advantages over jobs for everyday people. On Tuesday, the DISCLOSE Act failed to get the needed votes for cloture, in the process providing the Senate the time needed to move on to other business. But when leadership brought a revised version of the small business bill to the floor on Thursday morning, they were met with united Republican opposition.
Despite complaining about the delay in consideration, Republicans filibustered the measure by a vote of 58 (in favor of cloture) to 42 (against). GOP leadership argued that it wasn’t against the aims of the bill per se. They objected mainly to Reid’s refusal to allow consideration of amendments to the legislation.
"It’s not going to die," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, who noted that another vote could be held as early as today. "We just want to have amendments considered. They made a start, allowing three — so we’re making progress."
But as the GOP noted when chastising the consideration of DISCLOSE, the window for considering legislation is close to closing. As it stands now, Democrats are set to put energy legislation on the legislative calendar Friday and consider the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court next week. After that, they will head out of town for August recess. Allowing a lengthy amendment process could derail the remainder of what the party was hoping to consider
GOP Filibusters Small Business Bill After Criticizing Dems For Delay