This vote was on killing an amendment by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that would have paid for the costs of portions of the fiscal 2010 supplemental spending bill by cutting other federal programs Coburn felt were wasteful, inefficient or unnecessary.  This was one of two such amendments Coburn offered (see vote 170).  The amendment was offered to a bill that would provide supplemental appropriations in fiscal 2010, including extra money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as money for veterans, areas affected by natural disasters, and and funding for some social policy initiatives, such as for teachers and firefighters.

Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, moved that Coburn’s amendment be killed.

There was no debate on the amendment itself.   Inouye said “the Senator from Oklahoma feels we have had enough debate, so we will not debate this further.”

By a vote of 53-45, the motion to kill the amendment succeeded.  Of Democrats present, 50 voted to kill the amendment and six voted against.  All but one Republican present voted against killing the amendment.  The end result is that the motion to kill the amendment succeeded and the bill went forward without language that would have cut numerous other federal spending programs and priorities in order to pay for the supplemental spending bill.