Reid’s Debt Bill Needs GOP Votes

31 July 2011 |permalink | email article

When the Senate votes today at 1 PM (ET) Majority Leader Harry Reid will need 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster on the debt ceiling bill. Reid has 51 Democrats and two independents who will caucus with him but not all are certain to go along. Anticipating some defections the worst case scenario for the Nevada senator is that he will may need more than a handful of Republican votes.

It’s virtually certain that four Republicans – Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – who did not sign minority leader Mitch McConnell’s letter opposition Reid’s bill and are among the those with the most moderate voting records in the Senate overall – are aboard. 

Nate Silver’s Political Calculus in Saturday’s New York Times speculated on some most likely Republican additions:

* Mark Kirk of Illinois: a track record of moderate and bipartisan votes in the House.

* Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas: Retiring and quite vocal about the need for compromise.

* Lamar Alexander of Tennessee: Old-fashioned deal maker who makes exceptions on important votes, supported bipartisan “Gang of Six” plan.

* Bob Corker of Tennessee: Conservative voting record but has shown streaks of moderation.

* John McCain of Arizona: Among least predictable votes in the Senate but sharply criticized Tea Party in recent days. 

* Richard Lugar of Indiana: Among most moderate GOP senators, has bucked his party on many past occasions and, at 71, may be thinking about his legacy.

Silver added that if McConnell were to explicitly endorse a compromise effort, at some later stage, Reid could quickly go from fifty-something votes to 70 0r 80.

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