Reid is calling for Sgt. At Arms!

[cynatnite]

:rofl:

[LittleClarkie]

1. GIVE EM HELL HARRY!

Hoody hoo!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Drag them in by their heels.

n/t

[Nevernose]

3. Why? How?

I don't have a TV near my computer at the moment.

[cynatnite]

5. Looks like they'll be voting on having the Sgt. at Arms go after...

senators who aren't there. That forces all of them to get out on the floor to vote. Second time tonight. :)

[knowledgeispwr]

7. For quorum

If they don't have quorum, he can ask for a vote on whether the sergeant at arms can drag the missing senators into the chamber. Now they are voting on whether the serg. at arms will drag them in. It'll probably fail, but it will have the affect of bringing everyone in, thus assuring quorum.

[cui bono]

18. I don't understand what a quorum is...

:(

I read the Wiki entry and still don't get it. :( :(

[DeSwiss]

Here's what a quorum is.....

**********
**********
**********
**********
**********

50 senators & * = one guy out can't do business

or

**********
**********
**********
**********
**********
*
51 senators & you have a quorum & can do business

[cui bono]

23. Really, I still don't get it. You're probably thinking I understand Senate

rules better than I do. I really don't know details of their procedures.

So quorum just means having enough senators? So what if we have 51? Then what? Do they get to vote on something?

Sorry for my ignorance on this.

[LearnedHand]

22. A quorum is the number of senators

required by Senate rules to be present in order for a vote to occur. I don't know what the Senate quorum is, but in work teams, for example, a quorum may be 60%. That is, 60% of the team must be present in order for a binding vote to occur.

[cui bono]

24. Thank you. So then what do they get to vote on?

The actual amendment or on cloture?

[TechBear_Seattle]

27. The minimum number required to hold business

The idea is to prevent a small part of the group from calling votes which exclude the opposition.

The Constitution sets the quorum for both the House and the Senate at a simple majority. That means that if the Senate holds a vote, at leat 51 Senators must vote either Aye, Nay or Present for the vote to be valid. If 50 or fewer Senators vote within the allotted time, then the vote is not valid and can not be used. The purpose of a Present vote is to meet the quorum without voting either for or against something. The House has 435 members, meaning that at least 218 votes must be cast for a vote to be valid.

The United States Constitution (Article I, Section 5, para. 1) allows a group less than a quorum "to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may provide." What Reid is doing is using that Constitutional allowance to force absent Senators to present themselves for a vote.

[kurth]

4. Just put them in jail

[Canuckistanian]

6. What? When? Who? Why?

Did Lieberman start an armed insurrection?

[knowledgeispwr]

9. See post #7 n/t

[Canuckistanian]

14. Thnx n/t

[johnfunk]

8. Just too entertaining: quorum call

This is gonna be fun, but not for Republicans

[MADem]

13. What a nice way of saying "Get your big fat ass up off that office couch!"

[cui bono]

17. And put down that scotch! I don't care how neat it is! n/t

[MADem]

.....

:rofl:

Pssst--check your mail!!! I sent you an answer from that other thread!

[thatsrightimirish]

10. We may need the National Guard

Oh yeah... right. Opps

[frogcycle]

11. don't get too excited

that just means a quorum call - the sgt at arms is involved in name only

[cynatnite]

12. Here's an example of a senator who was physically carried to the floor...

And yes, this has apparently happened before, in 1988, when Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ordered round-the-clock Senate sessions that were boycotted by Republicans. Charlie Cook recounts that Byrd ordered the Senate's sergeant-at-arms to arrest absent senators and bring them to the floor. Capitol cops arrested Sen. Robert Packwood, R-Ore., and even removed him from a locked Senate office and carried him onto the Senate floor, Cook writes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1360059

[MADem]

15. Packwood was probably exhausted from chasing his female staff around their desks. NT

[BlooInBloo]

16. Not nearly as breathless as the women he choked.

[MADem]

25. She couldn't run fast enough in those high heeled shoes--GOTCHA!!!

I remember that jerk...amazing that their was any "discussion" at all about his behavior!

[BlooInBloo]

26. yyyyyyyup.

[sampsonblk]

19. Holy Joe is a DICK!!

[TechBear_Seattle]

28. And fire is hot

:eyes:

[DeSwiss]

20. Are the allowed to use deadly force?

Just thinking out loud here.

I mean some of these Repuke Senators are NRA nutjobs!!!



K&R!!! #5!! awww right!!!!!

[TechBear_Seattle]

29. Alas, no

Dead senators do not qualify for the quorum.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. But dead people can vote, according to the Lyndon B. Johnson Ethics School!!!

[texpatriot2004]

21. Give 'em HELL Harry! Harry Reid has a posse. nm

[cascadiance]

31. Not watching, but clarification needed? Does Reid call the shots here?

Can only he call a "quorum vote"? Or can the Republicans call for one too?

I'm thinking that if Reid is the only one that can do it. He can just let folks talk and let some of the Dems go out and rest for a bit, and when they all come back in, then he calls for a quorum vote and then the cloture vote.

If this is the way it works, then won't the Republicans have to be there ALL of the time, for fear that if they also try to leave, Reid will try to pick a time when they are absent and all of the Dems are there so that they can pass it with the Republicans absent. If that's the way it is working, I can see WHY they'd be pretty pissed. If that's the way its done, we should do this more often!