The Washington Post reports today about Democratic defections that have prevented passage, so far, of Obama's $410 billion spending bill.
There's a great bit about Robert Menendez's staff discovering a change in Cuba policy while they reviewed the bill online -- Menendez's "no" vote was one of the factors that prevented the bill from passing last week:
The most costly defection was that of Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), a member of the Democratic leadership, in protest of a little-noticed Cuba provision that would ease U.S. rules on travel and imports to the communist-led island.124. Did any other Democrats vote against the spending bill? Russ Feingold objected to the large number of earmarks, but I'm not sure if he actually voted against it.
Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama's approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.
"The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide," the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue.
Treasury officials, working with Reid's office, continued yesterday to search for an administrative resolution with Menendez that would ensure a narrow interpretation of the legislative language in order to prevent gaping loopholes from developing. Menendez has pointed out that, had the bill sought significant changes in U.S. policy toward Iran or Venezuela, lawmakers would revolt.
125. Is there a large, Cuba immigrant population in New Jersey that wields similar political influence to the Cuban population in Florida?
