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To: Dana1960

Article 1, Section 5 - Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.

The rules of the Senate are whatever the Senate says they are. Just as Pelosi and Schiff are dictators in the House, similarly McConnell and his Committee Chairmen are dictators in the Senate.


5 posted on 11/12/2019 11:54:23 PM PST by Tom in SFCA
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To: Tom in SFCA

Exactly. . . change the rule. No problem.


6 posted on 11/13/2019 12:14:07 AM PST by deks (Psalm 64)
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To: Tom in SFCA
The rules of the Senate are whatever the Senate says they are. Just as Pelosi and Schiff are dictators in the House, similarly McConnell and his Committee Chairmen are dictators in the Senate.

Not getting into the weeds on the issue of the day, BUT …

House rules and Senate rules are two different creatures, institutionally and culturally. All 435 members of the House are elected every two years. The House reconstitutes itself and adopts its rules every two years. On the Senate side, however, only one third of Senators stand for election each cycle. Two thirds carry over. The Senate therefore regards itself as a continuing body whose rules, originally written by Thomas Jefferson, carry forward automatically without being readopted every two years. Over 200 years, this has given rise to a very different institutional culture surrounding the rules and potential changes to the rules. It is why, for example, the Senate typically proceeds by unanimous consent on procedural matters. That doesn't mean that Senate rules can't be changed. It does mean that there is no automatic, built-in point at the beginning of each session at which rules changes are in order. Mitch McConnell can't just snap his fingers and order up a new rule. The cultural barrier to rules changes is much higher in the Senate.

16 posted on 11/13/2019 3:17:56 AM PST by sphinx (q2)
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