The deal to continue dubya era tax cuts managed to get 83 votes today to get past a filibuster. Fancy that. It appears that only republican legacy legislation can easily pass that hurdle in the U.S. Senate.

Question:  On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Concur in the House Amdt. to Senate Amdt. with Amdt. No. 4753 )

Vote Number: 272 Vote Date: December 13, 2010, 03:01 PM

Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Cloture Motion Agreed to

Measure Number: H.R. 4853 (Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part III )

Measure Title: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts: YEAs 83

NAYs 15

Not Voting 2

NAYs —15

Bingaman (D-NM)

Brown (D-OH)

Coburn (R-OK)

DeMint (R-SC)

Ensign (R-NV)

Feingold (D-WI)

Gillibrand (D-NY)

Hagan (D-NC)

Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Leahy (D-VT)

Levin (D-MI)

Sanders (I-VT)

Sessions (R-AL)

Udall (D-CO)

Voinovich (R-OH)

Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Yea McCaskill (D-MO), Yea

Any bets on the republicans counting this as part of the 95% of the time that Claire McCaskill voted with Obama for their 2012 campaign attack ads? Just asking.