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To: Pharlap
Good post. Thanks for light instead of heat.

I hope your proposals are doable.

93 posted on 11/04/2004 5:00:33 AM PST by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan)
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To: iconoclast
Yes. The process for doing this would go along the following lines. The Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, after caucusing with the Republican leadership and counting the votes, would at the start of the new Senate session move the rules for adoption for the governance of the new Senate. This would probably happen after a Rules Committee hearing and debate on a proposal to change the filibuster/cloture rule (Rule XXII). It is really the cloture requirement (60 votes) that is the key, not the filibuster itself. The Committee vote would go along party lines, and the Committee would vote out the new rules for floor debate. After debate on the rule to change filibuster/cloture, it is likely that no other rule will be changed, the question on adopting the new Rules would be called. The presiding officer of the Senate during floor debate would rule against any attempt to filibuster the proposed rules (because until there is a new rule there can be no filibuster which is merely part of the rules of a prior Senate and, as such, would not be binding on the new Senate unless and until adopted by a majority of the new Senate. Note: the Constitution is very clear on when super majorities shall apply, e.g., treaty ratification. IN ALL OTHER INSTANCES, A SIMPLE MAJORITY SHALL GOVERN. And, Article I, Section 3, Clause 4, provides that the Vice President shall be the President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, "unless they be equally divided." Thereby, codifying the simple majority mandate, except when the Constitution expressly provides for a super majority). When floor debate is concluded, the vote on the Rules for the new Senate would be by simple majority, with a tie vote being broken by the Vice President in his constitutional capacity as Senate President. Everything will work as long as the are 50 votes for the new Rules.
118 posted on 11/04/2004 5:36:40 AM PST by Pharlap
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