The cloture vote on the jobless benefits Reid introduced last night began at 8:00 p.m. tonight, and failed 58-38. Reid voted no, and entered a motion to reconsider in order to bring it back up after recess. This is the last vote of the week, leadership staff says.
Obviously Sherrod Brown needs to have more influence in the caucus. If the vote fails, as expected, you can thank Ben Nelson and Scott Brown.
Ben Nelson, or as Aravosis calls him, the $500,000 man, remains utterly intractable on this issue, refusing to consider not being a tool of the Republicans. He doesn't care, he's only got 4.5% unemployment in Nebraska and the individuals making up that group could not mean less to him. Nonetheless, if you're in Nebraska and as horrified by his obstruction as the rest of the nation, let him know. He shouldn't be let off the hook of hearing from angry constituents just because he's being a stubborn lout. He changed his mind on the Cornhusker Kickback in health reform because of backlash, so he's not completely unreachable.
And of course, there's Scott Brown, who should be thinking more about getting reelected in Massachusetts than making his GOP overlords happy. If you live in Massachusetts, give him that reminder either by e-mail or phone at (202) 224-4543.
The vote will come up again after recess. So in the meantime, every unemployed person in the home states of these two (and every other damned Republican) should not hesitate to take the opportunity to talk to them in person while they're home next week for the July 4th recess. Maybe if all the unemployed people in these states showed up at these Senators' town meetings or their local offices with the bills they are unable to pay in hand, it would get through to them that their actions are hurting real people--their voting constituents--in very concrete ways.