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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: DeMint bid to build border fence defeated Thursday, May. 27, 2010 DeMint bid to build border fence defeated By JAMES ROSEN - McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON -- The Senate late Thursday defeated Sen. Jim DeMint's bid to require completion of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border within a year. The 52-45 vote against DeMint's measure largely followed party lines, with Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio the only Republican to oppose it. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Seneca, S.C., Republican, voted for the DeMint legislation. Four Democrats voted for setting a deadline to complete the border fence: Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana. Similar stories: * In picking conservative underdogs, DeMint affects campaigns nationwide In picking conservative underdogs, DeMint affects campaigns nationwide When voters go to the polls Tuesday for U.S. Senate primary elections in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, they'll write a new act in the ongoing shake-up of the Republican political establishment that's being led by conservative freshman Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. In Kentucky, GOP voters will choose between Trey Grayson - the handpicked choice of the state's most powerful Republican, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell - and DeMint-backed Rand Paul, son of Texas Rep. Ron Paul. In Pennsylvania, Democrats will select Rep. Joe Sestak or incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter, who bolted the Republican Party last year after DeMint became the first Republican senator to endorse Specter's opponent, former Rep. Pat Toomey, in the GOP primary. * Senators load financial overhaul with irrelevancies Senators load financial overhaul with irrelevancies Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., wants the government to finish building the 700-mile fence between the U.S. and Mexico. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wants to end the health insurance industry's antitrust protection. West Virginia's two senators want help with mine and oil rig safety. They all want to add these things to the financial regulatory overhaul bill that's moving through the Senate, even though their ideas have little or nothing to do with oversight of financial markets. Senators have proposed 326 amendments to the bill, whose chief purpose is to revamp the system that's regulated financial institutions since the Great Depression, but failed to prevent the current deep recession. * DeMint rattles parties' cages DeMint rattles parties' cages No one can say that Jim DeMint's first term in the U.S. Senate has been uneventful. The Greenville Republican helped defeat a major immigration bill he branded "amnesty" but failed to stop a major health care measure he warned would be President Obama's "Waterloo." DeMint criticized President George W. Bush for spending too much and accused Obama of leading the nation toward socialism. * Primaries set new name for DeMint Primaries set new name for DeMint Sen. Jim DeMint's name wasn't on the ballot this week, but the conservative Republican from South Carolina emerged Wednesday as a big winner in key primary elections a day earlier. Numerous bloggers, pundits, news outlets and political operatives said the election results in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Arkansas had raised DeMint's stature as a conservative kingmaker who rattles the GOP establishment in Washington and enjoys a rising national profile among conservative activists. "Among conservatives and Tea Party groups, DeMint ... has become a political heavyweight, lending conservative credentials and financial resources to little-known, outside-the-beltway candidates," reported cnn.com . * South Carolina's DeMint seen as kingmaker in key contests South Carolina's DeMint seen as kingmaker in key contests Sen. Jim DeMint's name wasn't on the ballot this week, but the conservative Republican from South Carolina emerged Wednesday as a big winner in key primary elections a day earlier. Numerous political observers and experts said the election results in Kentucky and Pennsylvania had raised DeMint's stature as a conservative kingmaker who rattles the GOP establishment in Washington and enjoys a rising national profile among conservative activists. On Tuesday evening, DeMint gloated over Rand Paul's Senate primary victory in Kentucky. DeMint, a Greenville, S.C., Republican who helped lead opposition to a bipartisan immigration reform bill in 2006, said only 34 miles of a double-layer border fence authorized by Congress have been built. "The federal government is ignoring its own law at the peril of citizens in Arizona, Texas and really those all over the country," DeMint said on the Senate floor before the vote. The vote was on whether to attach DeMint's amendment to a $59 billion supplemental spending bill providing funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, disaster relief in Haiti and the United States and other needs. DeMint dismissed as "temporary and insufficient" President Barack Obama's decision earlier this week to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and to seek $500 million in new funding to help fortify the frontier. The Mexican government's crackdown on drug cartels has increased violence along the border in areas where illegal narcotics are smuggled into the United States. "Thousands of Mexicans have been killed," DeMint said. "We've encouraged the drug cartels to ship their goods to our border. We have mass chaos on our border because we will not do what we know works." The Senate in May 2006 defeated an immigration overhaul that would have helped 12 million undocumented workers in the United States gain legal status while taking steps to fortify the southern border. DeMint branded that bill "amnesty," helping spark opposition to it among conservative activists across the country. After that measure failed, Congress in September 2006 passed a narrower bill authorizing construction of the 700-mile-long, double-layered fence along the border. Only short segments of the fence have been built since Democrats gained control of Congress in the November 2006 elections. The Homeland Security Department in 2007 began to shift its focus to erecting a "virtual fence" along the 2,000-mile border, using sensors, cameras and other high-tech equipment to prevent illegal crossings. That plan, however, has been delayed by technical glitches and cost overruns. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano decided in March to slash funding for it. Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/05/27/1499655/demint-bid-to-build-border-fence.html#ixzz0pRrCNRK8 Poster Comment: Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 2nd Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question: On the Motion (DeMint Motion to Suspend Rule XXII ) Required For Majority: 2/3 Vote Result: Motion Rejected (Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 ) Vote Counts: YEAs 45 Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---45 Not Voting - 3 Chambliss (R-GA)
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