Cass Sunstein Cloture Vote Results

The lunatic is in the hall. The lunatics are in my hall. The paper holds their folded faces to the floor. And every day the paper boy brings more.  — Pink Floyd

Sunstein Nomination Affirmed

The cloture motion results for the nomination of Cass Sunstein to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget are in, and it appears that Obama’s hand-picked  appointee from the lunatic fringe has made the cut.  Senator Lieberman was the first to take the floor at approximately 4:25pm and spoke the following words in favor of the Sunstein nomination:

"Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, I’m pleased to both express my unqualified support for the nomination of Cass Sunstein to lead the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which was familiarly known in government circles as OIRA, and also to favorably report the nomination from our Homeland Security Committee. This nomination was considered and reported out by the committee on May 20th, that was almost 3 1/2 months ago. But, unfortunately, Professor Sunstein’s nomination has been the subject of unnecessary holds and delays. And this is an important position that needs to be filled. So, I want to thank Majority Leader Reid for bringing this important nomination to a vote. Obviously there is a filibuster and we will now need to invoke cloture so that Professor Sunstein can get on with the important job that President Obama has nominated him to do for our country and each one of us."

Following Lieberman, Senator Amy Klobuchar, member of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, proceeded with her own words of support for Sunstein:

"While all these individuals and organizations are supportive, what they say about Cass Sunstein is what I’ve always known about him. He is a pragmatist. He cares about ideas, but ultimately he cares about the right results. I have heard time and time again from the people in my state office about the red tape and regulations that citizens run into on an everyday basis with the United States government. It’s time to put someone in there, in this job that actually sees that connection, is able to connect human behavior with what those rules are and make those rules make some sense. He has the intellect and the ability and the support to get this done and I’m proud to support his nomination."

Following the gush of accolades made about Sunstein by these two Senators and following the vote passing the Travel Promotion Act (S. 1023),  the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Cass Sunstein  easily passed the needed 60 votes. The final vote result was 63-35. The roll call results for this vote as reported on the senate.gov website are:

Grouped by Home State

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Nay	Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Yea	Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Nay	McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Yea	Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Yea	Udall (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Yea	Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Yea	Kaufman (D-DE), Yea
Florida:	Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Nay	Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Yea	Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Nay	Risch (R-ID), Nay
Illinois:	Burris (D-IL), Yea	Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Yea	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Nay	Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Nay	Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Nay	McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Yea	Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Yea	Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Yea	Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts:	Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Yea	Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota:	Franken (D-MN), Yea	Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Nay	Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Nay	McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Yea	Tester (D-MT), Yea
Nebraska:	Johanns (R-NE), Nay	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Nay	Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea	Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Yea	Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea	Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Nay	Hagan (D-NC), Yea
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Yea	Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Yea	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Nay	Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Yea	Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Yea	Specter (D-PA), Yea
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Yea	Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Nay	Graham (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Yea	Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Nay	Corker (R-TN), Nay
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Nay	Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Yea	Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia:	Warner (D-VA), Yea	Webb (D-VA), Nay
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Yea	Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Yea	Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Yea	Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Nay	Enzi (R-WY), Nay

 

If you find a senator from your state voting Yea for this wingnut, be sure to remember it when it next comes time to go to the polls.  Remember, this is the guy who does not believe that you should be able to rid your house of rats, since it will cause them stress and that they should have the right to sue you if you trap them — and you thought Van Jones was a whack job.

READ. REMEMBER. VOTE.