Durbin Amendment Passes
Did anybody vote against this thing? I don’t think so. The Durbin amendment, a compromise amendment between Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over earmarking, passed unanimously just now. The earmark reform in the Senate is now equivalent to that passed in the House plus it will require a list of earmarks included in a given bill to be put online 48 hours prior to a vote. Even Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) voted for it, and if you read Bill’s post below that should come as a shock. Final vote tally to strengthen earmark disclosure: 98-0.