The Leaders just locked in a unanimous consent agreement for four amendment votes tomorrow.
There will be votes on the Mikulski and Murkowski amendments in the morning at 11:45. The McCain motion to commit (on the half-trillion dollars in Medicare cuts), and a Sen. Bennet amendment, will have votes at 2:45.
As Sen. McConnell noted on the floor, Republicans offered to vote on the Mikulski and Murkowski amendments this evening. But despite all the “obstruction” talk from Democrats today, there was an objection on the Democrat side to having those votes tonight.
As Sen. McConnell just said on the floor about the Murkowski/Mikulski amendments: “our side of the aisle, the Republicans side of the aisle, was prepared to vote on both of those amendments tonight, and then a problem developed on the other side.”
The Mikulski/Murkowski debate surrounds covering mammorgrams... and abortions. McCain wants to send the bill back to committee in order to ensure more funding for Medicare. In response, Democrat Bennett has also proposed an amendment to ensure no one ever loses their medicare. Why would the GOP say they are "prepared to vote" on these measures? As Erickson points out, "the GOP is not really helping the fight for freedom here."
If Mikulski and Bennet pass tomorrow, Democrats will argue that they have fixed the Medicare and mammogram issues. Why are we in such a rush to allow Democrats to vote on their amendments to fix the bill? This is a unanimous consent request. All Senators are responsible for this disaster. Will anyone stand up and say “I object?”