Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
Well, this is kind of
ironic.
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) will accept the New England Council's "New Englander of the Year" award Tuesday at a ceremony in Boston. The award honors residents of New England for their leadership and impact on the region's quality of life and economy.[...]
The award will be presented at the organization's 2011 Annual Dinner in Boston Tuesday night.
The problem is, there's somewhere else she should be tonight. Particularly considering that tonight's vote is all about the economy. Shaheen supports the jobs bill, but is uncertain if she's going to be there to vote tonight. That might depend somewhat on the more conservative members of her caucus.
Jonathan Lipman, a spokesperson for Shaheen, tells me that she supports the bill, but that she’ll only be on hand to vote for it if her vote is necessary. “The Senator has told leadership that she is fully prepared to be here tonight if her vote is needed for passage,” Lipman says.
By "passage," however, Lipman appears to mean getting the 60 votes for cloture. No one expects that to happen. The emerging question right now is whether it will gain a simple majority in the Senate. That's crucial for Dems, because if it doesn't, it will give the GOP a talking point to undercut the Obama/Dem case against the GOP.[...]
UPDATE: Emily Heisig, a spokesperson for the New England Council, which has endorsed some of Obama’s job creation ideas (but not the whole jobs bill), emails:
We would be disappointed, but we would understand if there's an important vote and the Senator needs to be there for it. Part of the reason we're honoring her is she's been a good advocate for this region.
Congratulations on the award, Senator. But please, don't be there to collect it.
2:45 PM PT: An ABC reporter has learned that leadership will hold the vote open for Sen. Shaheen, so that she can both collect her award, and vote for the jobs bill.