The Daily Strike-4/12/10-Extensions, Extensions

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Make sure you catch up on the week in politics in The Weekly Strike below.

THE SENATE: The Senate came back into session today and voted to cut off debate on a bill that extends unemployment insurance, COBRA, and flood insurance. The bill had been held up by Republican obstructionists prior to the two week recess, and as a result, millions of Americans saw benefits disappear. Democrats were able to scrounge together the 60 votes necessary to begin debate on the bill. Every Democrat voted for it, as did Republicans Brown (MA), Collins (ME), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH). 34 Republicans voted to cut off these benefits. 3 Senators from each party did not vote.

Majority Leader Reid is trying to come to an agreement with Minority Leader McConnell to schedule a final vote in the next couple of days. Obstructionist Tom Coburn might break with his leadership and prolong the debate as long as possible. This is the sort of obstructionism, the kind that hurts everyday Americans, that Democrats need to highlight as much as possible.

NUCLEAR SUMMIT: The rest of Washington D.C. was consumed with the multilateral summit on nuclear weapons. Leaders from all over the world descended on the nation's capital to figure out ways to stop nuclear proliferation. The President stepped out of the summit at points today to have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Jordan, Malaysia, Ukraine, Armenia, and China. Obama is hosting a working dinner tonight with foreign leaders.

The best news of the day is that Obama reached an agreement with the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanokovych that requires the Ukranians to give up their stock of highly-enriched uranium. If only we could make such a deal with the Iranians and the North Koreans!

That's it for now. See you tomorrow!