Posted on 12/22/2009 7:55:59 AM PST by BuckeyeTexan
The rules of the Senate require that a quorum be present to transact business. A quorum is 51 Senators. In most instances, outside of roll call votes, there are no more than 4 Senators on the Senate floor. If a Republican Senator suggested the absence of a quorum, Democrats could not transact business on the bill. It is a common courtesy to allow the quorum call to be dispensed with, without requiring 51 members to show up on the Senate floor (to get 51 Senators to appear without a roll call vote is very time consuming). When the Democrats ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with, the Republican should immediately shout “I object.”
In 1988, when the Democrats were attempting to pass campaign finance reform, and Republicans refused to help them make a quorum, it took 53 hours for the quorum call to be dispensed with. If at any moment at least 50 Democrats are not on the floor, a Republican Senator could again suggest the absence of a quorum and start the process over again, causing huge delays in the legislative process being able to move forward.
No amendment can automatically or without substantial delay receive a roll call vote without every member of the Senate agreeing. Again, the Senate generally operates on collegial courtesy, but a $2.5 trillion courtesy is too much. Once an amendment is pending, it only takes one Senator to step in front of this freight train. If a Senator objects to ending debate on the amendment or having the amendment set aside, the majority must file cloture on the amendment. First cloture has to ripen and it cannot ripen until the next day’s session of the Senate, so that kills a day of the majority’s time. Assuming 60 Senators vote in favor of ending debate, the Senate is then required to spend 30 hours of its session time before voting on final passage for the amendment. Suffice it to say, if the Republicans had continuously objected from the start, the ten amendments they allowed the majority to process would have taken more days than Harry Reid has on the Senate calendar.
Senators have an obligation to protect the Constitution and the budget and points of order can be raised on both. Many constitutional scholars have pointed out that numerous bill provisions, particularly the individual mandate, are unconstitutional. Under the Senate’s rules, constitutional points of order are debatable. The Republicans should be constantly bringing up constitutional points of order, one after another, on every questionable provision. Reid would presumably be forced to file cloture on the points of order and another three days could be burned up on each one.
The healthcare bill violates § 425(a)(2) of the Budget Act, which prohibits consideration of any legislation that contains an unfunded intergovernmental mandate in excess of $69 million per year. If the point of order is raised and sustained, a simple majority may vote to waive the point of order. But the waiver is debatable and thus would presumably require 60 votes to cloture the motion to waive. This would require them to produce 60 votes at a time when they do not have their deal wrapped up yet, once again burning up three days.
On every vote, including on constantly raised points of order, the Republicans should be objecting that the vote total is incomplete – the Democratic Chair will rule that it is complete and the Republicans then appeal and once again force a vote, delaying the process again and again.
The Republicans should be offering one amendment after another on all of their favorite issues such as guns, abortion, elimination of the death tax, ending the TARP program, and gay marriage in the District of Columbia. Nothing connotes trench warfare like non-germane amendments on hot-button social issues. When you look back at all of the great filibusters of past decades, they almost always involved non-germane, explosive amendments on contentious social and other issues. Republicans should be offering hundreds of such amendments on every topic and using the rules to force votes on every single one. And the Republicans should be forcing the reading of the bill and every single amendment, not consenting to waiving that requirement.
The view coming out of the Senate of the Republicans has the appearance of business-as-usual – colloquies, speeches, and unanimous consent agreements. It does not convey the sense of urgency that should come with an issue of this magnitude and it does not provide any assurance to the public, including most especially the conservative base that is the heart of the Republican Party, that Republican Senators are willing to do everything it takes to stop this bill. If they don’t starting acting forcefully quickly and immediately, not only will they allow the country’s future to be unalterably damaged, they will be hastening the end to their own careers in the elections coming down the road faster than they can imagine.
Finally, I often hear that Senators express frustration when we dare to tell them how to fight, and that their frequent refrain is “you just don’t understand how the Senate works.” Actually some of us understand better than they do how it should work (whether they agree with every particular parliamentary tactic described or not), and the current frustration they feel with us will be nothing like what they may feel if they don’t stop this bill at all costs and act to preserve our Republic.
I almost threw up yesterday watching the Mr. President re-define “rules” as “procedures”
BTW, I hear Obama wants to legalize the illegals next year in order to neutralize our vote of throwing them out. Expect that to happen.
I don’t think the GOP is serious about stopping Obama. Some individuals certainly are — but many are not. All professional politicians benefit from bigger government. More power, more control, more money to play with. They all get quite a kick out of it.
The Republican party is shot. They want this Communist bill as much as any Democrat. They just want you to beleive they don’t.
The GOP is not conservative.
They really only care about getting along.
The lobbyists run the country with huge hand outs, no one works for us anymore. The founding fathers are turning over in their graves...
What they really want is to be included in all the Washington cocktail parties.
"You go to bed one night. You wake up in the morning. And you find the great political leaders with their arms around each others' necks: dear old pals. That's the honest truth of government -- They've ALWAYS been ALL THE SAME!"
Note: I don't like fascists one little bit -- but that doesn't mean Mosley was wrong about everything.
Government should be small and weak -- that way they can't do too much damage.
It is obviously the price of keeping Snowe and Collins from giving cover for two Dems.
Worth it.
You can’t have everything.
Actuially it just might be worth it to put up with Obama care for a few years just to see them competely disgraced. Then we can end it. Granted the history of ending lib BS isn’t good but I think that just might change. Maybe the GOP leadership understood that.
Because they don't want the Rats and the DBM to call them nasty names.
They're joyful about how it will help their appeals for campaign contributions.
Rules? The only rules are the Democrats making on the fly and Republicans can do nothing. The Democrat party is now the Communists Party.
The battle continues between Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison over the significance of Hutchison’s vote early this morning (December 18th) to end a Republican filibuster on a defense spending bill.
Perry’s campaign, which earlier called the vote a failure to fight Democratic health care plans, blasted Hutchison’s explanation that her vote was a show of support for the troops.
“For Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to defend her vote to accelerate the health care debate by invoking our troops is dishonest and an insult to the 33 Republican senators who voted against limiting debate on the defense spending bill,” said Perry spokesman Mark Miner.
Remember how the Democrats kept the Senate in session, in theory more than practice, to keep President Bush from making recess appointments. They have no qualms about using any rule or procedure, regardless of how old or quaint or unfair, to thwart the passage of legislation they don’t like. Why should treat them any differently than the way they treat us?
The RINOS feel, in their heart of country-club-bar hearts, that to oppose The Anointed of Allah would mark them as racists!
O NO! They might even lose the Latino Vote (aka the Republicans of the Future, according to Karl Rove, never mind that they never get more than 30% of it anyway)Instead, they'll take whatever safely gerrymandered seats they can get from the Democrats, and hope to get back to business as usual with those friendly characters across the aisle in 2010. Just need a few more seats to even things up.
The RINOGOP has no idea what to do with a majority ... or a victory. In fact, they really want neither, nor do they think they need them. When they had responsibility, they blew it. Responsibility is actually bad for Republican business, which is the lobby-money-powered, deal-making juice needed to protect the big payers.
There is a provision in the bill stating that no bill seeking to undo this bill will be considered by the Senate at any time in the future. Rush talking about it now.
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