Only 3 Democrats Voted Against Cloture on the SNAP-Cutting Farm Bill

Last week, the House passed the 2014 Farm Bill, complete with $8.7 billion in cuts (on top of the cuts that went into effect in November). It passed 251 to 166, with the majority of Democrats opposed (103 vs. 89).

Today, the Senate voted to end debate on the Farm Bill (also known as cloture). This is not the final vote, but the vote to proceed. Nevertheless, I was very disappointed that only 3 Democrats voted NO on cloture: Richard Blumenthal, Ed Markey, and Elizabeth Warren. I am happy that two of them are my senators.

The roll call was 72 to 22.

19 Republicans voted against cloture, likely because they thought the bill did not cut SNAP enough.

Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Rand Paul (R-KY)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Tim Scott (R-SC)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)

Six senators (4 Democrats and 2 Republicans) were not in attendance for the vote: Mark Begich (D-AK), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Mark Udall (D-CO), and David Vitter (R-LA).

The Senate, I believe, will be voting on passage later this week. Some senators might vote yes on cloture but no on passage, so you can still call them.