I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The U.S. Senate, early in the morning in a snowy Washington D.C., passed a vote on cloture over the health care reform bill. The vote to limit debate passed on a 60-40 vote, the smallest margin possible for successfully limiting debate.
All Democrats, and both independents who caucus with the Democrats, voted for limiting debate, while all Republicans voted against.
The New York Times writes of the 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time vote:
The vote was 60 to 40 — a tally that is expected to be repeated four times as further procedural hurdles are cleared in the days ahead, and then once more in a dramatic, if predictable, finale tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
New Mexico’s senators, Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman, both Democrats, voted to limit debate.
The question is no longer if the Democratic leadership can get enough votes to pass the bill. The New York Times says it will be “predictable.” Now the question is whether leadership in the House and Senate can hammer together legislation in conference committee that can attract enough votes in pass each chamber. In conference committee, lawmakers from the U.S. House, which passed its own health care reform package last month, and the U.S. Senate will work to reconcile the competing versions of the legislation.
Just today, Raul Grijalva, the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said “Unfortunately, the latest of several collapsed deals in the Senate has shown that recent compromises in that chamber not only are unjustified on a policy level but also have been unproductive on a political level.”
