Posted on 10/07/2011 1:44:19 AM PDT by Watchdog85
Reid appealed a ruling from the chair that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not need consent to force a vote on a motion to suspend the rules to consider an amendment after cloture has already been approved.
The maneuver is highly arcane but momentous. If a simple majority of the Senate votes to uphold Reid’s appeal, the Senate’s rules will have been changed by the unilateral action of one party.
Republicans had considered using this maneuver, dubbed the “nuclear option” in 2005, to change Senate rules to prohibit the filibuster of judicial nominees. Democrats decried the plan and the crisis was resolved by a bipartisan agreement forged by 14 rank-and-file senators known as the Gang of 14.
Drew M. at Ace of Spades adds:
Just got an email from someone in the Senate. It’s not the filibuster but the ability to change the Senate rules by simple majority vote (instead of 2/3s vote). The rule they are trying to change has to do with the ability to close off the option of offering amendments.
Reid’s maneuver works. The precedent has been set that Senate rules can be changed by majority vote.
This means the Senate rules can be changed by majority vote.
So, the GOP wins the Senate in ’12, nukes the filibuster and then repeals ObamaCare?
Wow.
This is pretty crazy and it’s going to take some time to sort out.
Steven J. Duffield, past policy director to Sen. Jon Kyl posits on Twitter, “Reid’s parliamentary power grab was NOT done to advance bills, but to protect weak Dem senators from awkward votes. *Not* abt lawmaking.” Lachlan Markey of the Heritage Foundation adds, “Methinks Reid may regret that move in, oh, about 13 months.”
I’m sure my fellow Tatler contributors will have more as it comes in.
I get the feeling Reid plans on moving along in 2012, so you can expect a lot of mischief until then.
It shows vote #00156 on the Motion to Invoke Cloture on S. 1619 was Thursday at 10:32 AM (and 12 Republicans voted for the cloture motion). The vote #00157 on Reid's maneuver was Thursday at 6:41 PM and no Republican voted with Reid, and Nelson D-Nebraska voted with the Republicans against Reid (this vote is described as "On the Decision of the Chair (Shall the Decision of the Chair Stand as the Judgment of the Senate)".
In the video linked below Reid makes a "point of order" concerning an amendment. Then the Chairman rules "The point of order is not sustained". Reid says "I appeal the ruling of the Chair and request the yeas and nays". Then Senator McConnell makes a comment.
All 48 Republicans vote to sustain the ruling of the Chairman, and 50 Democrats and 1 Independent vote Nay... the ruling of the Chairman is not sustained and thus the rule is changed. But at the end of the video, which is after the vote, Reid says "we'll discuss later how we're going to move forward on other things".
Video of Harry Reid's parliamentary maneuver to change the Senate rules
This procedure change all brings Democratic senators into some type of issue for the 2012 election, if they are running. I would imagine that they will all be asked how they feel about the “nuke option” by the local news press, and then grin mostly as they explain that they weren’t in on the process change.
This all keeps people thinking about limiting the Senators and House members to 100 days of work in DC. Why continue the soap opera all-year-round?
All this is to avoid voting on Brack’s “Jobs Bill”? What does Reid do for an encore?
I thought I learned English when I was in school...but I cant tell what this run on sentence says and like so much other inside the beltway speak, it makes no friggin sense...anybody care to diagram this so I can discern what it actually means? That is, other than Reid is changing the rules?
Reid appealed a ruling.What was the origin of the ruling?
...from the chair...What was the ruling?
...that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not need consent...Consent for what?
...to force an amendment...For what purpose?
...to force a vote on a motion...What kind of motion?
...a motion to suspend the rule...To suspend the rule for what purpose?
...to consider an amendment an amendment after cloture has already been approved.It's a sentence that is a little longer than what someone commonly encounters in a newspaper, but it's a simple and direct construction.
What was the ruling?
I would imagine that KY and McC will continue to be snookered by the Democrats.
Reid was just re-elected in 2010 so he will be around until 2016 unless he assumes room temperature before then.
Say it aint so!/sarc
McConnel is just another one of the Permanent Political Class who is snookering you if you have any perception he is there to represent conservative ideals.
Now he is up this election and I hope the people of Kentucky have the fortitude to primary him out along with a whole bunch of other states like Utah, Indiana . . . .
LLS
So, the GOP wins the Senate in ’12, nukes the filibuster and then repeals ObamaCare?
..........................................................
You have to be kidding.
Republicans we have in the Senate haven’t got the balls.
this is a great moment. We could never get the GOP leadership in the Senate to go nuclear when they take control in 2012 and here it is handed on a plate. this is the only way Obamacare can be repealed is to get around a Demorat filibuster and here is the way. Thanks Harry!
“So, the GOP wins the Senate in ’12, nukes the filibuster and then repeals ObamaCare?”
They will never get Graham, Lugar or the girls from Maine to vote for changing the rules to favor conservatives. So we would need at least a 55 vote majority to change the rules. Not likely.
I am smiling at this.
Big time.
Was this rule change only as to the one item on the table? I didn’t see that in the story.
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