There were $8 billion in earmarks, some from the very Republicans that later agreed to a ban of earmarks, which liberals and Reid continue to neglect to mention when they claim "Republicans have them in the bill too."
Fox Reports:
Sen. GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has long been known as an effective whip, and Thursday night he showed his prowess as he effectively stripped Democrats of the GOP votes needed to pass the $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill, killing the measure for good.
A visibly frustrated and angry Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, lashed out, saying that he had nine GOP senators supporting the measure, but that suddenly the support evaporated.
"This action taken by my friends on other side of aisle going to cause people to lose their job," Reid predicted.
"There's only one reason why cloture is not being filed...He doesn't have the votes.," McConnell chided, as he referred to the term for the process to shut down a filibuster. "And the reason he doesn't have the votes is because members on this side of the aisle increasingly felt concerned about the way we do business."
A McConnell aide said the leader "worked the phones" for days, pressing his members to quash the bill which contains $8 billion in earmarks (1% of the overall bill), several that belonged to the leader, himself, before he agreed to a pork moratorium.
Reid and McConnell promised to hammer out a short-term funding resolution to keep the government running.
More on this tomorrow...
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