Posted on 01/28/2010 9:12:00 PM PST by American Dream 246
The Senate has voted on three pieces of legislation today that required 60 votes–to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, to reduce the deficit by establishing five-year discretionary spending caps, and Ben Bernanke’s confirmation–all of which interim Senator Paul Kirk (D-MA) has voted on. In addition, there have been other Senate votes since Scott Brown was elected as Massachusetts senator that Kirk cast a vote.
The main question here is: why is former Senator Kirk still voting on these legislative pieces?
According to Senate rules and precedent, Kirk’s term expired last Tuesday upon the election of Scott Brown. Furthermore, Massachusetts law can be interpreted, according to GOP lawyers, as:
Based on Massachusetts law, Senate precedent, and the U.S. Constitution, Republican attorneys said Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day, period. Brown meets the age, citizenship, and residency requirements in the Constitution to qualify for the Senate. “Qualification” does not require state “certification,” the lawyers said.
Additionally, as reported in the Weekly Standard and investigated and confirmed by GOP lawyers:
Appointed Senator Paul Kirk will lose his vote in the Senate after Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts of a new senator and cannot be the 60th vote for Democratic health care legislation, according to Republican attorneys.
Using this interpretation, Kirk cannot vote on any other legislation. Moreover, further analysis by Michael Stern concludes:
The Senate subcommittee and committee concluded, based on its hearing and review, that “the term of service of a Senator appointed to fill a vacancy in an unexpired term ends on the day when his successor is elected by the people.” 1939 Congressional Record, p. 998. There was evidently no controversy among either the subcommittee or full committee regarding this legal conclusion, and the committee then presented a resolution to the Senate for adoption, expressing the view that Berry’s term of service expired on November 8, 1938, the date of the special election. As Senator Connally, a member of the subcommittee, explained to the Senate, the fact that the Tennessee statute purported to extend Berry’s term until the qualification of his successor was of no force because the statute was “plainly in conflict with the provisions of the seventeenth amendment.” Accordingly, the Senate adopted the proposed resolution without dissent. 1939 Congressional Record, p. 1058.
Based on this authority, it would appear that a valid point of order could be raised as to Senator Kirk’s participation in Senate proceedings after January 19, 2010.
Why is the GOP allowing the Democrats to blatantly violate Senate and election rules and laws? Where is the GOP leadership? Will Kirk’s votes stand? Massachusetts voters deserve an explanation as does the rest of the country for this blatant abuse of power.
Crossposted at Big Government
Oh great! I thought it was ILLEGAL for Kirk to vote - the moment Brown won the election.
Just more of the treachery of the democrats.
I’ll just say it: dirty SOBs. These votes should be stricken from the record. Seat Scott Brown, now.
Blatently Illegal, but nothing will happen.
Because we let it.
It is probably illegal for him to vote. But the republicans are not trying to stop him, because they don’t want to stop him.
Brown is in no hurry to get to the senate, and so long as the democrats don’t try to pass something the republicans really oppose, the republicans won’t raise a point of order.
And what I am saying is that the repubicans did not want to block the debt ceiling increase, they just wanted to vote against it. If you block the increase, the nation goes into default. If they forced Kirk out, one republican would have had to vote for the debt ceiling bill, or else they would have had to bargain for what was in the bill to make it acceptable, none of which is what the republicans wanted to do.
They wanted the democrats to OWN the debt ceiling. And that’s what they got.
Bernanke passed with 70 votes, so the Kirk vote was of no consequence. Numbers of republicans and democrats supported and opposed Bernanke, it wasn’t a partisan vote.
Not sure about the other bill you mention, but I presume the republicans weren’t up to fighting it either, or they would have asked Reid to hold it until Brown was seated.
I don’t know that Brown would have opposed any of these things either. He’s not going to be an entirely reliable conservative vote after all.
Any chance that Brown is better off avoiding these and starting off with a clean slate?
Just asking
ping
BTTT
Politics. Anything Kirk is voting for now prevents Brown from doing so. It’s a sidewalk kinda thing.
Like many here. We did not think the commiecrat organization would abide by the rules.
I saw Scott Brown’s campaign lawyer who is also his person friend and classmate from law school, on Greta’s special last weekend, and he explained that democrats in Massachusetts and the US Senate are dragging the seating of Scott Brown to the very last day which is February 11, 2010.
It’s not anything he would have voted against. It’s actually cover for him. You will notice no hell raising whatsoever. :^)
Good point. And I have been up since 3:30AM. Time for me to hit the rack.
I’ll be seeing Scott Brown tomorrow...he’s traveling around the state Fri, Sat and Sun before he leaves for DC. The “Thank you Tour”.
I’m wearing a barn coat and driving the truck..
Time for a freep outside Kirk’s house in the spirit of 2000:
“GET OUT OF BROWN’S SEAT!”
Ask Scott about this. The GOP attorneys are suppose to be all over this. I understand the votes Kirk has made will be proven to be illegal.
Once Kirk’s vote was cast, game over. No matter how illegal this was, it will stand. Kinda like 0’s “qualifications” for president.
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