The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : GOP: Dems Violated Senate Rules By Cutting off Reading of Sanders Amendment

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The Spectacle Blog

GOP: Dems Violated Senate Rules By Cutting off Reading of Sanders Amendment

By Philip Klein on 12.16.09 @ 4:05PM

The Senate Republican leadership believes that the parliamentarian allowed Democrats to violate the rules of the Senate by allowing Sen. Bernie Sanders to cut off the reading of his single-payer proposal.

When an amendment is introduced, it has to be read on the Senate floor unless the rest of the Senate agrees to cut off the reading, and typically, the requirement is waived through "unanimous consent." Yet today, Sen. Tom Coburn insisted that Sanders' 767 page bill be read on the Senate floor, which was on pace to take more than 12 hours.

But about three hours into the reading, Sanders withdrew his amendment, and this stopped the reading of the bill -- even without unanimous consent.

"In allowing Sanders to do that, it appears the parliamentarian has broken the standing rules of the Senate," a Republican aide emails. "We're looking into the implications of this and working on where to go from here."

Here is the relevant part of Riddick's Senate Procedure, which the GOP believes Democrats have violated, emphasis was in the email:

“Reading: Under Rule XV, paragraph 1, and Senate precedents, an amendment shall be read by the Clerk before it is up for consideration or before the same shall be debated unless a request to waive the reading is granted; in practice that includes an ordinary amendment or an amendment in the nature of a substitute, the reading of which may not be dispensed with except by unanimous consent, and if the request is denied the amendment must be read and further interruptions are not in order; interruptions of the reading of an amendment that has been proposed are not in order, even for the purpose of proposing a substitute amendment to a committee amendment which is being read. When an amendment is offered the regular order is its reading, and unanimous consent is required to call off the reading.” (Riddick’s Senate Procedure, P.43-44)

"It looks like there’s nothing the Democrats aren’t prepared to do to jam this unpopular health care bill down the throats of the American public," the aide writes.

View all comments (26) | Leave a comment

WRJonas| 12.16.09 @ 5:04PM

Whats the comedy line?... Badges ? Badges ? We don't need no stinkin' badges. (I 'll bet the Presiding Officer is a Democrat .) We make the stinkin' rules !

MarkJ| 12.16.09 @ 6:33PM

Q: What's the difference between the Democrats and members of the Taliban?

A: You can actually reason with some of the Taliban.

lman| 12.16.09 @ 6:52PM

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TG| 12.16.09 @ 6:56PM

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PD Quig| 12.16.09 @ 7:07PM

Either rules are rules, or might make right.

Haul out the guns and ammo,
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get it together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here

And you know it's right.

Jo8246b| 12.17.09 @ 8:15AM

Way to go Sen. Colburn of Ok.. keep it up

Ali A. Rizvi| 12.17.09 @ 12:45PM

I agree with Coburn.

The reading aloud rule helped a lot hundreds of years ago when bills were difficult to copy, print, or type, and needed to be read aloud. In the last few years, where people like GW Bush and Sarah Palin have held prominent positions in politics, having things read to the Republicans is becoming more important. Not everyone in government is an elitist who can read and comprehend complex legislation. Thank you Senator Coburn!

No One Important| 12.17.09 @ 1:51PM

Look, the democrats are desperate to get this over.

They’re going down in flames. 61% of the nation now opposes this. The democrats have stuck with the “the status quo is not an option” mantra, however, polling shows, YEA, it IS an option with the public. An OPTION the public would rather TAKE than accept what the democrats are pushing.

So now, the democrats have this horrendous bill, saddled on them from the parasitic lefties, and it’s going to kill them in 2010.

So you either RIP it off, and start over, which they won’t do because there’s not a single one among them strong enough to call a “pig” a pig, or you just let this parasite of a bill strangle you and hope someone will save you in the near future.

Meanwhile, lead parasites like Pelosi and Obama try to sooth them into thinking all will be fine, coming from those not at risk in 2010.

Their “siren’s” call, attempting to BS the other democrats into going along with them, is nothing different than what Obama did to the nation. And now, some democrats are starting to abhore having Obama treat them as stupid as he treated the American voter.

The voter is waking up, and the democrats can’t get away from a POTUS who has deluded himself into thinking this is good for the nation.

1 in 7 Americans is struggling to buy food, but this Potus gives himself a B+?

Wow, and he thinks the BANKERS are out of touch?

It’s clear now who is completely clueless. Obama, and the democrats following him. The only democrat that might survive a contested race next year is the democrat that stands up and says “I’m tired of wasting time on this, when Americans need jobs, and they need us to do OUR jobs. Drop this nonsense, and we’ll start over later, but right now, the nation needs us to focus on their top priority. It always was and always has been the economy. Not HC reform.”

But you won’t find a single democrat out there strong enough to say it.

And what does that tell you?

A Conservative Teacher| 12.17.09 @ 2:10PM

Rules, Democrats don't need no stinken rules. They're trying to put in place a dictatorship based on rule of men, not a democracy based on rule of law. The rules are probably alive anyways, able to be changed whenever you don't like them, sort of like our living Constitution. I'm joking to cover the disgust I feel.

Scared in Seattle| 12.17.09 @ 2:33PM

Bush lied...
The rule died.

Geez, how can anybody care about some li'l old Senate rule when hundreds--no, thousands--of helpless little kids are dying every day in our streets all because they don't have government managed health care plans? Such heartlessness simply astonishes.

Charles (Chuck) Schumer| 12.17.09 @ 2:37PM

Rules? Rules are for the little people, bitch!

Mike Zarowitz| 12.17.09 @ 2:41PM

Our tax dollars at work.

The way I see it, Sen Sanders did offer a substitute amendment. A null one.

Can we get back to not doing work yet?

Andrew| 12.17.09 @ 5:53PM

Rule XV, section 2, in the Standing Rules of the Senate says: "Any motion, amendment, or resolution may be withdrawn or modified by the mover at any time before a decision, amendment or ordering of the yeas and nays, except a motion to reconsider, which shall not be withdrawn without leave." Anyone know why this rule would not be applicable to the Sanders-Coburn situation?

Eddie| 12.18.09 @ 11:58PM

because you may only withdraw "before a decision" -- the reading itself counts as a decision, and had already begun which is why this rule no longer applied.

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Vehicle tracking systems| 2.8.10 @ 4:50AM

Hey the way I see it, Sen Sanders did offer a substitute amendment. A null one.

Voip reviews| 2.8.10 @ 4:54AM

Certainly dull, he should havn't done that anway for his own sake.

Cell phone trackers| 2.8.10 @ 4:56AM

They're trying to put in place a dictatorship based on rule of men, not a democracy based on rule of law. The rules are probably alive anyways, able to be changed whenever you don't like them.

Really need them

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GPS tracking| 12.3.10 @ 10:40PM

Whats the comedy line?... Badges ? Badges ? We don't need no stinkin' badges. (I 'll bet the Presiding Officer is a Democrat .) We make the stinkin' rules ! cell phone gps tracking

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