Senate Democrats forced Republicans to stay up past dawn yesterday morning in a largely symbolic move made to highlight GOP obstructionism on the war in Iraq. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he wanted to alert the country to Republican measures to thwart any measure that would hasten the return of US troops in Iraq. Reid had pushed through a motion minutes earlier, on a 41-37 roll-call vote, instructing the Senate Sergeant-at-arms to “request the attendance of absent senators” in an effort to keep members near the chamber. Having made his point, Reid than announced there would be no further votes before 5 a.m. EDT. With a half-dozen spectators watching from the gallery, Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and John Thune of South Dakota were among those speaking during the long night, joined by Democrats Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Jim Webb of Virginia. Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona finished his speech around 4:10 a.m. He was followed by White House hopeful Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee in the last election, had the floor as the sun started rising over Capitol Hill. The Senate was to vote later in the morning on legislation by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would require President Bush to begin pulling troops out of Iraq in 120 days. After April 30, an unspecified number of troops would be allowed to remain in Iraq to fight terrorists, protect U.S. assets and train Iraqi security forces. The legislation was expected to attract the support of a narrow majority of senators _ around 52 votes _ but fall short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and end a filibuster. “Will the all-night session change any votes? I hope so,” said Reid, D-Nev. “Because it will focus attention on the obstructionism of the Republicans.
