Congress is just beginning to smell gunpowder in the air, which is why the Clerk of the House has been deputized to monitor the situation. The Archivist by his own procedures doesn't communicate with Congress until a threshold has been reached, and Congress doesn't want to be blindsided.
We're at a cat-and-mouse phase in the struggle. We're moving quietly, and Congress now wants to monitor our movements. That's actually good. A badly reasoned and precipitous move on the part of a panicked and blindsided Congress could lead to chaos and even bloodshed. Cool heads need to prevail.
The cat-and-mouse phase will lead to a "chess" phase as we get closer to 34 applications. Both the state legislatures and Congress will be moving carefully to preserve their own interests. I'm heartened that the Convention of the States movement is at least 5 chess moves ahead of Congress right now. Let's hope it stays that way!
When the 34th application hits Congress, the "bare-knuckle brawl" phase begins. This will be about power, not finesse. This will be about legal facts on the ground, not legal theorizing. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the education effort will pay off.
As pointed out earlier, Federalist 85 is clear on the matter that Congress is compelled to call the convention, and plays no other part. To me, this is not a vote on a resolution as Wikipedia called it, but more of a mere announcement that the threshold was met.
Congress is a book-keeper on the matter. I don't know how it came to be that a vote is required to actually make the call.
-PJ
<>Congress doesn’t want to be blindsided<>
Congress knows that which it wishes to know.