Senate Democrats refused to allow debate on the Gregg Amendment last night, and instead, sought a vote to end debate on the entire bill. Thankfully, that vote failed 51-46 (60 votes are needed).

In response, Senator Gregg issued this statement:

“Despite reaching a good-faith agreement with the Democratic leadership that my fiscally responsible amendment, A Second Look at Wasteful Spending, would be taken up at another time, I was disappointed to learn that objections from another Democratic senator effectively blocked that agreement. I fully support ethics reform – in fact, I offered my amendment to strengthen the ethics reform package – so will continue to push for a vote on this reasonable proposal to reduce wasteful federal spending. I cannot support ending debate on this bill until the Senate has had a chance to fully debate and vote on a proposal to improve the government’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle to achieve that goal.”

The unidentified Democratic senator that Gregg is referring to is the King of Pork, Robert Byrd.