Sen. Cornyn says they'll be offering hundreds of amendments if the bill passes

[pnwmom]

the House. Do we really have to go through that -- or will the rules specify that there will be no amendments (from either side)? Does anyone know?

[Motown_Johnny]

1. some talking head had a guess at a time line up earlier today

and he was guessing the vote on the Senate bill would be at about 7:00 est

[jaxx]

2. I was thinking there was a timeline on how long they could rattle on.

Maybe not? :shrug:

[NotThisTime]

3. They wouldn't actually stay past 8, they might miss an important college basketball game or somethin

Nothing against college basketball.....

[Flubadubya]

4. There should be a rule of protocol that says if you didn't vote "Yea"...

on the bill, you cannot offer amendments.

How sucky is this... asshole Cornyn? :thumbsdown::mad:

[brooklynite]

5. Umm, that's SENATOR Cornyn...

[pnwmom]

6. Oops. Did I just demote him? Slip of the keys, I guess. n/t

[laughingliberal]

7. All I know is the reason the cabash was put on Sanders offering a PO amendment

because Reid said if they allow any amendments at all it would open the door for this flood of amendments. After Sanders has agreed to not offer his Public Option amendment to avoid this, I'd damned well better not see a bunch of right wing amendments allowed to be offered.

[pnwmom]

9. Yeah, I remember that, too. Hope it works. n/t

[laughingliberal]

14. It damned well better work!

If I see one Republican allowed to offer an amendment, I will be convinced this whole meme was yet another piece of Kabuki theater designed to kill the people's choice of a public option.

[spanone]

8. ...and it will already be law. President Obama can sign it tonight if it passes.

once he signs it they can whine all they want to

[MiniMe]

10. He can only sign the Senate bill, the reconciliation bill still has to pass the Senate

[onenote]

12. correct. and amendments can be offered to the reconciliation bill

the reconciliation bill does not require 60 votes for cloture, but it is subject to 20 hours of debate during which time amendments can be offered. The amount of time for debating individual amendments can (I believe) be limited, but the delaying tactic is for the senator offering the amendment to insist that the amendment be read -- typically when amendments are offered in the senate, everyone agrees to waive reading the amendment. By offering a endless stream of amendments and demanding reading, the repubs could engage in a "filibuster by amendment". Plus, if any amendment passes, it will require the House to vote yet again.

In the end, I believe the repubs will try to drag the reconciliation down so that it can't be enacted before the easter recess

[laughingliberal]

16. ...which is all why Reid was saying they were not going to allow amendments to be offered

which is why Sanders backed off his plan to offer an amendment creating a public option.

[tritsofme]

19. Reid said that Democrats won't be offering any amdendments.

Senate Democrats' goal is to get the reconcillation measure through the Senate without change, so that the House does not have to vote again.

Republicans will still be able to raise points of order and offer amendments to drag out the process.

[tritsofme]

17. The parliamentarian could rule that the amendments are "dilatory"

And end the process.

I doubt they have hundreds of amendments in reserve anyways, they must be germane, and they must be scored by the CBO.

[onenote]

20. link?

[tritsofme]

22. Here:

There’s no limit as to how many amendments GOP senators may offer, and lawmakers such as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) have vowed to propose as many as necessary to keep the bill on the floor.

But Durbin noted that amendments must have a score from the Congressional Budget Office to be considered germane. The CBO is overworked to the point that it took longer than Democrats expected to get a cost analysis for the healthcare reconciliation package.

Democratic leaders doubt Republicans have many amendments that would be

Democrats are confident the parliamentarian will rule Republican efforts to slow the process with a storm of amendments as dilatory and out of order. The lack of germane amendments will make it difficult for Republicans to argue otherwise.

Even if the parliamentarian allows the amendments, centrist Democrats, such as Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), say they are ready to vote to sustain a ruling from the presiding chair to quash a GOP effort to filibuster through amendments.

“I’m not much for dilatory practices, as you know, so that will probably drive my decisionmaking as much as anything,” Nelson said.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/87795-senators-getting-ready-to-take-the-health-baton

[onenote]

23. thanks

[Sugarcoated]

18. But, if it starts to look obvious that this is just

Republican shenanigans the VP can put a stop to it.

[spanone]

21. per cnn

The big moment for House Democrats will be the vote to approve the Senate-passed bill, likely to take place after around 7 p.m. EST. If there are 216 “yes” votes or more, the bill will go to the president’s desk to be signed and enacted.

That moment will be as close as Democrats will get to their own version of the NCAA’s “One Shining Moment,” but there will be another tough game in the Senate before a real victory dance can take place. Even if the president signs the overhaul into law, there’s still work to be done in the Senate as that chamber works to approve “fixes” to that law.

On Sunday night, after they vote on the bill, House members will vote on a “reconciliation” package, a series of “fixes” to correct problems in the bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve in 2009.

Those fixes must be approved by the Senate before they can take effect. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday pledging that his caucus would vote to approve the corrections, which require 51 votes for approval, but Republicans may be able to derail that process.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35963785/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

[laughingliberal]

24. Yeah, we know. The discussion here is whether they can hold up the reconciliation bill

with endless amendments.

[robinblue]

11. The House needs to pass the "senate" bill,

but the Recon bill has to go to the Senate before it goes to the President.

[laughingliberal]

13. Right! Cause the Senate already passed the reconciliation bill!!! Oh, wait...

NO, they haven't!

[HughMoran]

15. Cornynhole