DeMint Amendment Fails, 29-71
Late last night, the Senate voted to keep the favor factory open. Senator Jim DeMint's amendment to impose a one-year moratorium on earmarks lost big time, 29-71.
Twenty-three Republicans joined 6 Democrats (Bayh, Clinton, Feingold, Lieberman, McCaskill, and Obama) to vote for the moratorium. Props to all of them, whether they did it for disingenuous reasons or not. And extra praise should be given to DeMint for not only offering the amendment, but for withstanding the intense pressure that he must've received from his colleagues to pull the proposal (I personally heard some awful rumors of how DeMint was treated in a GOP conference meeting).
Below are the Republican Porkers who voted NO. Feel free to call them to let them know how you feel. The Capitol Hill switchboard is (202) 224-3121.
| SENATOR | SENATOR | SENATOR |
| Bennett (UT) | Domenici (NM) | Smith, G. (OR) |
| Bond (MO) | Gregg (NH) | Snowe (ME) |
| Brownback (KS) | Hagel (NE) | Specter (PA) |
| Bunning (KY) | Hatch (UT) | Stevens (AK) |
| Cochran (MS) | Hutchinson (TX) | Vitter (LA) |
| Coleman (MN) | Lugar (IN) | Voinovich (OH) |
| Collins (ME) | Murkowski (AK) | Warner (VA) |
| Craig (ID) | Roberts (KS) | Wicker (MS) |
| Crapo (ID) | Shelby (AL) |
