Chad Pergram; Verified account @ChadPergram
2h2 hours ago
Senate procedural vote to call up Hse bill with wall changes started at 12:31 pm et. Flake voted no. Senate is 51-49 GOP. They may need Pence to break a tie. But GOPers need all of their members here. Otherwise, they can’t even start debate on the bill
Even if they do get Hse bill w/wall money on the floor, McConnell has to file cloture to end debate on the bill. If you do it by the book and file cloture today...you can’t even take the cloture vote (which would fail, because it needs 60 yeas), until SUNDAY.
There are no side negotiations going on now to avert a government shutdown.
So unless something drastically changes, we are cruising toward a government shutdown.
In order to handle existing spending bill which has been ricocheting between the House and Senate for some time now, the Senate NEEDS TO GET ONTO THE BILL. Otherwise, they are stuck. So far, Senate lacks the votes.
Process #1 for Hse passed bill ) Vote to concur with the House changes. If the Senate does that, the House and Senate are aligned and the bill goes to the President for signature.
Process #2 for Hse passed bill: Senate concurs w/hse changes, but also make ANY change to the bill (called “concurring with an amendment”). Then the bill goes back to the House because, again, the House and Senate are not aligned
Process #3 for Hse passed bill: Senate could disagree with Hse. The Senate would actually take a vote to “disagree” in tHse changes 2 the bill & ship the measure back to the Hse because, again, they are not in sync. Each of 3 options is “debatable” which could entail cloture
It would be good if McConnell would go nuclear and do 51 margin vote. I know— still might need a dem or two. RINOs so wobble and seem to enjoy doing so.