The final vote on the amendment – which would give 25 billion for supposed infrastructure renovations, while not defunding, say, a $30 million public parking garage in Auburn WA that’s going to benefit private transport providers – got shot down 58-39-02. This was a party-line vote: we picked up Landrieu, they got Bond and Specter, and Kennedy and Gregg sat it out (Kennedy is of course gravely ill these days, and Gregg’s the logical choice to sit out the vote in response). They needed 60.
Please note that Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), John McCain (R-AZ), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) all voted with the rest of the Republican caucus. This is no guarantee that they will continue to do so, of course, although the bill is highly unpopular as-is. But it should be noted that so far they have been voting against spending more of your money.
They also voted to strip out the provision giving Hollywood some of your money, too. Although that one was bipartisan… which is to say, something like 14 Democrats scrambled to vote with us on that one and Vitter unaccountably voted for it. Maybe his finger slipped.
Crossposted at RedState.