parliamentary procedure

Impress someone who knows the current parliamentarian, then apprentice for at least a decade. Congressional parliamentarians belong to one of the most exclusive professional clubs on earth. Only four men have held the job in the House of Representatives since the position was established in 1928, and five have held the Senate job since 1935.  

I'm gonna throw a quick post up to try to re-assure y'all that this is still a fight worth engaging in, even after the House endorsement of the tyrannical "Slaughter solution." It is awfully tempting to think (and I'm sure the Dem Leadership will soon be using this as a talking point) that the 222 votes for Slaughter means that the Dems have the 216 they need for passage of the bill. After all, if they are willing to brazenly BS you about the CBO score, why wouldn't they BS you about this?  

But the real story is found in the 222-203 roll call vote. I'm not sure what to make of this. The "no" votes are a veritable "who's who" of undecideds and leaners on the underlying healthcare vote: Mitchell, Adler, Nye, Periello, Kosmas, Carney, Childers, Cooper, Teague, and Dahlkemper all voted against it.  

I'll be honest. I had started to wonder whether this Slaughter Rule business was a bait-and-switch. I couldn't imagine that, with the pounding Democratic leadership have taken over the deem-and-pass strategy, there was any profit left in pushing it.  

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu on Thursday said the rules of Parliament must be changed so that motions were thrown out if they lacked substance or a reasonable prospect of success. She made the call in her speech in the debate on the vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma called by the Congress of the People. "This is a frivolous motion that is an outright waste of time," Sisulu said.  

The New York Times reported on October 11, 2009, that Fox News claims its news hours are objective and defined as "9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on weekdays." Those weekday hours include America's Newsroom , Happening Now ,and America Live , which replaced Live Desk in early 2010. America's Newsroom :

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on weekdays.   -Fox News

 

So far as the legality or regularity of the procedure is concerned, Pelosi is correct. Reconciliation does raise a substantive issue: whether the Senate filibuster serves a rightful quasi-constitutional purpose. But if you accept that use of reconciliation is justified in the present case, as I do, "deem and pass" raises no further issue of that sort--because it is procedurally identical to the House passing the Senate bill and a reconciliation sidecar along with it.  

In an unprecedented attack on the integrity of TA, Tennis West president Dean Williams challenged the minutes of a special general meeting held on March 6. At the meeting representatives of the state and territory associations voted unanimously in a vote of confidence in the tennis strategies and business management of both TA's board and the sport's administration. Williams, who is considered the point guard for McNamee's attempt to become president of TA, said he was unaware of any meeting or unanimou

He (Williams) sent the email to a lot of people and most have come back to him and said of course it happened. Some reminded Williams that they saw him vote in support of the motion   -Geoff Pollard

 

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer today hinted that Democrats may use a controversial parliamentary procedure to pass the health care bill, a tactic that House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor charged would be an attempt to fool the public. "We're going to have a clean up or down vote on the Senate bill , that will be on the rule," Hoyer, D-Md., said on "Good Morning America" today. "This is not an unusual procedure. We're going to vote on a rule."

We're going to have a clean up or down vote on the Senate bill , that will be on the rule   -Steny Hoyer

 

State Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, called on 3 rd District Rep. Leonard Boswell to denounce the "self-executing rule" being discussed in the U.S. House. According to news reports, the U.S. House is considering using the rule to allow Boswell and other representatives would be able to vote on the health-care bill without really voting on the plan. "For members of Congress to want to hide behind a procedural vote should speak volumes about how toxic and misguided the current health care bill is," Zaun s

For members of Congress to want to hide behind a procedural vote should speak volumes about how toxic and misguided the current health care bill is   -Brad Zaun