Congressional Update

By Evan Rothera

Leahy-Specter Motion—Habeas Corpus Restoration Act:
In a relatively important yet unnoticed battle in the chamber of the United States Senate, a bipartisan motion co-sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D—VT) and Senator Arlen Specter (R, PA) failed; when the votes were counted the final total was 56 in favor and 43 opposed. The failure of this motion can be attributed to the fact that it failed to obtain a supermajority (60 votes), which would have allowed it to overcome the Republican filibuster. This is seen as a defeat for the Democrats, as the motion attempted to restore the right of Habeus Corpus to the imprisoned “illegal enemy combatants” currently being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Webb Amendment:
The amendment proposed by Senator James Webb (D—VA) would have restricted, in essence, how long and how often troops could be deployed in combat. The amendment went down in defeat; as 56 senators were in favor and 44 against, again failing to attain the supermajority level. The fact that this amendment failed is seen as another defeat for the Democrats, but more surprising than the defeat of the amendment is the fact that Senator John Warner (R—VA) changed his position so radically. Originally Senator Warner was in favor of the amendment, but then he began to waver and actually, in the final vote, voted against Webb’s amendment.

Levin-Reed Amendment:
An amendment sponsored by Senator Carl Levin (D—MI) and Senator Jack Reed (D—RI) would have “required a change of mission in Iraq and mandated firm timetables for withdrawal.” The amendment was defeated by a vote of 47 in favor and 47 against. Surprisingly, unlike Senator Webb’s amendment, which received a majority of votes, but not the required supermajority, the Levin-Reed Amendment did not receive a simple majority of the votes. The amendment did receive limited bipartisan support from Senator Chuck Hagel (R—NE), Senator Gordon Smith (R—OR), and Senator Olympia Snowe (R—ME).

Cornyn-Inhofe Resolution:
Last week, when General Petraeus was testifying before Congress, the anti-war group, MoveOn.org placed an ad in the New York Times labeling the four star general as “General Betray US” and making the claim that he “cooks the books for the White House.” By a vote of 72 in favor, 25 against, the Senate passed a resolution co-sponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R—TX) and Senator James Inhofe (R—OK), which condemned MoveOn.org for this advertisement. The passage of this resolution is seen as a victory for Republicans.

Approval Rating:
While President Bush’s approval ratings currently hover somewhere between 30-35 percent, given the day, the news from Iraq, and the agency conducting the poll, Congress’s most recent approval rating appears to be 11 percent. This figure, barely one third of the President Bush’s approval rating, cannot and should not be viewed as a good sign by anyone. Even though the traditional wisdom would be for the Republicans to be happy, as this number really cannot be described in any way other than pathetic, the number could indicate a strong degree of anger, by the voters, towards all incumbents, not just Democrats.