Sen. Mikulski: In an institution where we control - still control - the House, Senate and WH,

[FourScore]

Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, said, "In an institution where we control — still control — the House, the Senate and the White House, we ought to pass unemployment compensation."

Why don't the Democrats just do that???

[BzaDem]

1. Because she's actually wrong, and we need two Republican votes to do so. n/t

[spanone]

2. then make them vote against it. at christmas time.

[Name removed]

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[BzaDem]

7. They've ALREADY voted against it several times.

The question was not whether we could make them vote against it. The question was whether we can pass it. How am I wrong that we can't pass it without two Republicans?

[Tx4obama]

3. BECAUSE it takes 60 votes to get cloture in senate. We don't have 60 dem senators. n/t

[Name removed]

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[cascadiance]

10. Do budget reconciliation to pass it! That's what Bushco did the first time to pass the cuts!

And had to use Cheney as the deciding vote to get it passed in a 50/50 senate.

[FourScore]

12. Exactly. n/t

[truedelphi]

13. OhOhOh! PIDDLE Pauddle! LBJ had to face down 23 Dems in the Seante who weren't with him

On the Civil rights Act. But being a skilled negotiator and a statesman, he managed to get it done.

Obama and Reid and Pelosi don't have any abilities other than their dramatic kabuki theater skills. Their ability to portray themselves as terribly upset that their buddies on Wall Street and at The Big Insurance Houses (and DoD too) are getting so much of the cream off the top of the 11 Trillion and counting that was taken from us on Main Street doesn't fool many of us any more.

They can express their frustration and their outrage, so that we are filled with the images of how righteous they are, but Kabuki Theater it remains.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. My senator! I've not agreed with her on everything, but I'm proud of her tonight n/t

[Imajika]

8. I don't get it either....

Why did we not pass this in the House under normal rules? We have the votes to pass it easily. The Senate is more difficult because we need 60 for cloture, but the House should be a slam dunk. Pelosi brought it to the floor under suspension rules which require a 2/3rds vote to pass, but why hasn't it been brought up under normal rules?

I guess I can see putting the Republicans on record, but this is a pretty serious issue for millions of people and we need to pass the UI extension while we have the votes to do it. I hope Democrats are not just playing games with this thinking they are embarrassing the Republicans. The GOP has no shame, they mostly oppose the UI extension and don't much care who knows it. They really can't be embarrassed, so lets get the vote done right.

[Tx4obama]

9. Under normal rules amendments can be added & fought over, under suspension they can't be.n/t

[Imajika]

11. But we have a huge majority right now...

We can make the rules such that endless amendments can't be added.

I mean, we have a big majority and the only reason I can see not bringing this up under regular order is if we are afraid we can't even pass the rule.