As I write this, it appears that the Senate Republicans have managed to kill the auto bailout. A “compromise” amendment seems to have failed, as the U.A.W. has refused to give a “date certain”–anytime in 2009–at which they will reach parity with other automakers in terms of salaries.
The vote on cloture–a Senate procedure which requires 60 affirmative votes to end debate and bring a bill to a vote–was the critical issue in this case. Pro-bailout folks needed to come up with 60 affirmative votes in order to bring the bill to a vote–in which instance, there would probably be enough–assuming the Democrats stuck together–to pass the final bill.
Ben Nelson voted “yes” on the vote for cloture–fortunately there weren’t enough who voted “yes”, but Nelson’s vote suggests that Nebraskans will need to watch him very carefully in the new Congress.
I have been watching Nelson for several years. One of the things I have noticed is he will vote Yes to end cloture so that a bill can be brought to the floor for a vote. Then vote No on the bill. This is particularly true on boarder security and illegal aliens. So, just because he voted to bring the bill to the floor does not mean he would have voted for it. It does mean you would have known exactly how he voted on the bill.
That is certainly true–a vote for cloture does not necessarily indicate how a Senator would have voted. Although given the procedural manipulations in the Senate on that particular issue, and the influence of partisanship, I suspect that if it had gotten to the Senate floor, he would have voted for it–if he was needed. Remember, that once something gets to the floor, though, they only need a simple majority to carry the day. So, senators like Nelson who come from conservative states can vote for cloture to get a bill on the floor, win the appreciation of the party leadership, and then be excused to vote against the bill to please the folks back home–even though the vote for cloture may have been more crucial to actually getting the bill passed because of the rules. There’s no way of really knowing what the full story is.