Question: On the Cloture Motion.
Category: Cloture
Vote description: Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to Consider S.372; Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007
Result: Agreed to, 94-3, with 3 not voting.
Richard Shelby voted Yes.
Vote description: Coburn Amdt. No. 648; To remove $100 million in funding for the Republican and Democrat party conventions in 2008.
Result: Rejected, 45-51, with 4 not voting.
Richard Shelby voted Yes.
A resolution offering the Alabama Legislature’s apology for slavery sparked racially charged debate in the Senate on Thursday, but a vote on it will have to wait until after the lawmakers’ spring break.Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, tried to pass a resolution Thursday expressing the Legislature’s “profound regret” for slavery, but Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Jasper, blocked Sanders’ resolution by objecting to it consideration. After an emotional exchange between the senators, the Senate quickly adjourned for its spring recess. Sanders said he will try to pass the resolution again when lawmakers return April 24.
“I’m terribly disappointed because I thought Alabama was beyond debating this issue,” Sanders said.
Bishop said his opposition had nothing to do with race.
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“Nobody in this state can call me a racist,” he said.
Bishop said Sanders’ resolution and similar ones passed recently by the legislatures in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina appear to open the door for lawsuits seeking reparations.
“I think this whole thing is bigger than Alabama,” Bishop said.
“That’s crazy,” Sanders responded.
Sanders, a partner in a large law firm, said his resolution makes no mention of reparations and the time limit for filing any lawsuits over the wrongs of slavery has long expired.
Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, introduced a similar resolution Thursday in the House, where it could also come up for a vote after spring break.