[okie01]

<The UN Small Arms Treaty basically does this and it only requires the Senate to approve it. He has the votes to do it. The House has no say.

The House has no say, true. BUT it takes 2/3 of the Senate to ratify a treaty.

So long as 34 (of 45) Republican Senators stand pat, the Small Arms Treaty is doomed. And I'm less than sure that all 55 Democrats will support it, either.

[GlockThe Vote]

I don’t trust anybody anymore.

Boehner is flopping all over the place like a fish out of water to give O-THUG what he wants. I predict Boehner will follow Christie Creme’s little lovefest with O-THUg shortly.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

You have way more faith in those self serving sumbitches than I ever had.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

20 of those 55 dem senators are up for re-election in 2014.

Those in competitive races might hesitate to vote for any ban (we hope they hesitate).

[NFHale]

“..2/3 of the Senate...”

Re-read the Constitution: 2/3 of the Senators PRESENT to ratify.

They’ll try to do it during a recess over the holidays, or thereabouts, when the GOP and Dem holdouts (if any ) go home.

It’s called treason, basically, but hey...they don’t care.. “They Won”...

[Spktyr]

That’s not what the Constitution says. The Constitution says “two thirds of *those present*.” Not two thirds of the entire body - two thirds of those who are actually present.

A quorum of the Senate (the minimum needed to conduct any business) is 51 people present. The Democrats have 54 now.

Assuming that there are 51 Democrats present and no Republicans, which is easily done through clever scheduling and other tricks that the Republicans can’t/won’t challenge, it then only takes 34 yes votes to get a treaty through.

They have pulled similar tricks before on legislation important to them where they don’t care about bipartisanship and they needed 2/3rds of those present.

NOW do you see how screwed we are?

[OKSooner]

" So long as 34 (of 45) Republican Senators stand pat, the Small Arms Treaty is doomed. And I'm less than sure that all 55 Democrats will support it, either. "

Not only do those 34 Republican Senators need to stand pat, they need to also be available for a quorum call 24-7, until Obama leaves office.

Also rest assured that every single Democrat Senator most certainly will vote for it when they are able to assemble a 2/3 majority, for example as all the Republicans are headed to the airport for Christmas break.

(Oh, they held a vote? We didn't know...)