NYT: Stymied by G.O.P., Democrats Stop Debate on Iraq

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/washington/19cong.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1184851792-tCn/TsIN9H/drFAIVx4mSg

Stymied by G.O.P., Democrats Stop Debate on Iraq


By CARL HULSE and JEFF ZELENY
Published: July 19, 2007

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“Our colleagues in the Senate are going to have a chance to go home, explain their votes and vote again,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat. “And eventually, I am confident, they’ll join us in changing the direction in Iraq.”

The Democratic move angered Republicans who had hoped to get a chance to push their approaches.

“If the American people suspect for a minute that any of us in the Senate are using those tactics as political issues, more than an effort to develop a consensus, I think there will be a heavy political price to pay,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. (ME: political issues? POLITICAL ISSUES? Nah, who'd do that?)

He said he was disappointed the Senate would not get to vote on his proposal to put recommendations from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group into law.

The final 52-to-47 vote came after a debate that unfolded around the clock, starting at 11:25 a.m. on Tuesday and concluding shortly after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, with more than half of the membership of the Senate delivering speeches. Lawmakers were required to vote formally from their desks rather than rushing in to cast votes as usual. Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is majority leader, cast his vote with Republicans for procedural reasons so he could revive the issue later.

Mr. Reid then unexpectedly announced he was ending consideration of the annual Pentagon policy measure. “We will come back to this bill as soon as it is clear we can make real progress,” Mr. Reid said.

Though he would not specify when that might be, other Senate officials said they were confident that the fight over Iraq would not be taken up again until September, about the same time a full administration report is due on the course of the war.

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