Senate bill looking doubtful

The Senate voted this morning for 'cloture' on the Hagel-Martinez compromise bill (to see if there was enough support to move forward). The move would have also protected it from ugly anti-immigrant amendments.

Well the vote failed. They got only 38 of the necessary 60 votes. Apparently some Democrats did not support the new bill. Bill Frist's bill was also considered but it got even less support: 32 votes in favor.

Now the partisan bickering has started, each side blaming the other for failing to work something out before the Congressional recess. It's looking doubtful that anything will be worked out today. That means over the two week recess the proposals could "die on the vine " since it's getting too close to the mid-term elections.

The media (AP and Reuters) don't quite get the complexity of the situation or what the public thinks of it all. Today they reported that "Demonstrations IN SUPPORT OF (emphasis added) the compromise were planned for Monday across the nation." The message on Monday needs to be that we don't support legislation with the nasty hidden traps in it that the media refuses to cover.

Stay tuned...