The least that can be said about the shenanigans on Wednesday in and around HR 5349, the 21 day S 1927 extension bill, and H Res 976, the special rule under which it came to the floor, is that they need some pretty close and savvy parsing.
While Mike says The House Stands Tall, I'm inclined to reach for a tape-measure, and check for trick mirrors.
When last I opined on FISA matters (on Wednesday afternoon), the curtains were just opening on the pantomime.
I flagged various elements: the upcoming pivotal role of the Dogs (who mostly voted for the no-immunity HR 3773), 21 of whom were supporting the Senate bill text (S2248); the opening offered to the GOP of the motion to recommit (which H Res 974 could have closed, but didn't); the fact that HR 5349 would be DOA in the Senate if it passed the House.
My takeaway:
If the MTR passes, it'll be the most striking example of GOP exploitation of the device this Congress. Almost certainly, their biggest win of any kind in the 110th House so far.
After yesterday's circus on the Senate floor, this is how we stand:
Our old friend S 2248 no sooner passed than it was gutted, and its innards inserted into the similarly gutted body of HR 3773, the bill without the telco immunity.
There's no mention on THOMAS of HR 3773 being returned to whence it came - but that's the next stage.
Meanwhile, the FISA floor action today is on the House floor on HR 5349, which would extend S 1927 by another 21 days from when the HR 5104 extension expires (this Saturday).
Needless to say, the GOP is not overly keen; Bush says
Congress has had over six months to discuss and deliberate. The time for debate is over. I will not accept any temporary extension. They have already been given a two-week extension.
He's right thus far: the Dem leaderships have left things to the last minute; and an extra 21 days will make no difference to the chance of a substantive bill passing the Congress.
The House GOP have their old warhorse, the motion to recommit to deploy, though.
Bizarrely, knowing that this is precisely the sort of case in which the MTR comes into its own, the rule under which HR 5349 is being dealt with (H Res 976) allows for a MTR.
Because 21 conservative Blue Dog Democrats have endorsed the Senate-passed bill, Republicans might be able to win approval of the Senate bill through a motion to recommit the extension with instructions to amend it with the text of the Senate bill.
The bill is being debated now. If the MTR passes, it'll be the most striking example of GOP exploitation of the device this Congress. Almost certainly, their biggest win of any kind in the 110th House so far.
Why Nancy should have chosen to prolong the agony with a bill she knows won't pass the Senate, I don't quite know.
We start with the Californicated burg of Berkeley whose Council, with or without chemical assistance, decided last month to tell the Marine Corps that they were
uninvited and unwelcome intruders.
CA hippies dis the military, SC throwbacks wave the Confederate flag. It happens.
This being election year and all, GOP senators decide they want to make a little hay out of Berkeley's walk on the weird side, and secure a vote on a bill (in the terms of HR 5222 - I can't find the equivalent Senate bill on THOMAS) to put their Dem colleagues on the spot. (The bill would eliminate a $2m earmark.)
This, you might have thought, would be an A1 chance for Dem senators to Sister Souljah Berkeley and its weirdness.
But not, of course, as part of a bipartisan exercise. (If Harry had been on the ball, he'd have take the initiative in bringing his own version of the bill to the floor. But - to come in as a cock-boat behind a GOP bill: unthinkable!)
The Hill piece linked fingers the shenanigans. Essentially, they went like this: by default, a bill after introduction gets referred to committee. If, however, objection is raised (even if by the guy introducing the bill), it is held for a couple of legislative days, and then placed on the Calendar - whence it can be called off by any senator (but see below!).
Harry's wheeze was to arrange that, instead of the Senate being adjourned after business on days last week, it was recessed.
The difference: adjournment triggers a new legislative day. After a recess, the previous legislative day continues.
Apparently, the good councillors of Berkeley have had a spell in rehab, and are about to tone down their diatribe against the Marines.
By the time the GOP bill comes up for a vote, supposedly, the Berkeley rant will be closer to a whine, thus taking the air out of the whole GOP circus.
I've not got out Riddick's to check out what the piece says against the rules: for instance, while it's true that the wheeze referred to can get a bill onto the Calendar, it's a different matter calling it off.
Because the Maj Leader has the (unwritten) prerogative of being called by the prez in priority to any other senators, he should be able to stop measures on the Calendar which he wants to stay there from being called off by other senators.
So, even if the GOP bill had got onto the Calendar, that would have been of no avail had Harry not acquiesced in the bill getting floor action.
However: a nice little vignette of Senate life, I thought, and scope for further research if it becomes relevant in future.
Under the Unanimous Consent framework agreed to by all Senators (including Dodd), there will be a 60-vote requirement to invoke cloture on the FISA bill and for ultimate passage, followed by an allotted 4 hours of post-cloture "debate," but there will not be any real filibuster to prevent cloture.
That UCA - in particular, the 4 hour postcloture debate limit - is not mentioned in Friday's Daily Digest, so I assume it was agreed today.
(Apparently Leahy has put round an email saying he
will do everything in [his] power -- including joining [his] colleague Chris Dodd in a filibuster against this legislation -- to fix it.
Greenwald tartly draws attention to the sawed-off nature of the debate time, and, hence, of Leahy's pledge!)
Of course, if the mythical real filibuster was going to be forthcoming from any of the clay-footed spheroid faves, they wouldn't have agreed this UCA (or any of its predecessors on S 2248).
Action then moves to the House. Which is currently sitting on its (no-immunity) HR 3773, passed with Blue Dog support.
A Nationpiece mentions that Dingell, Markey and Stupak have got together to try and hold the line on immunity.
If Nancy goes along with this, it would signal an epoch-making change of strategy. It's amply within her power to run out the clock (HR 5104, the 15 day extension to S 1927, sunsets on Saturday).
But - rather more likely - she will bring S 2248 to the floor, and let it pass with Blue Dog support, while voting against it herself.
That was her MO with S 1927, certainly.
That way, everyone wins - Nancy, and Dingell and his friends, get to burnish their voting records, and the Dems avoid a confrontation with Bush, the aim of their current FISA strategy.
if the regular count is close-ish, and the performance of the candidate with most regulars has given rise to second thoughts in the runup to the convention, why should the party be stuck with a choice made without up-to-date info?
Especially given that each Dem candidate has novel features (gender and race respectively) about them which, over a distance of ground, may prove an unexpectedly large handicap.
Rosenberg scribes a thought-provoking piece earlier today under hed Bipartisanship Vs. Reality: The Stimulus Package.
The Stimulus Package Circus has (so far as I can see) been vastly undercovered in the lefty sphere (I, like many others, have been seduced by the gaudier delights of the FISA Show) - so, a timely entry, all things considered.
The line on the substance of the package (which seems all too believable) is that Dems and GOP, Capitol and WH, have eschewed the methods that would actually delivered a stimulus (eg boosting food stamps and unemployed insurance) in favor of other measures, perhaps more rewarding when it comes to taking the hat round the moneybags.
The kicker, I have to disagree with, though:
Bushism is no longer the enemy. Republicanism is no longer the enemy. Both of them are history-or would be, at any rate, if it were not for the real enemy, and the real enemy is bipartisanism.
The implication is that something is now going on which wasn't going on earlier in the Bush regime. Or before that.
The essential error of many in the lefty sphere, I think, in their appreciation of the performance of Dem MCs is a failure to look at the world from the MCs's point of view.
The end of last week and beginning of this, the Senate chamber was all hurry-up.
As the deadline for replacing S 1927 was running out fast, there seemed to be some kind of momentum to proceedings.
Of course, it was kabuki - given the task of reconciling its legislation with the House's no-immunity HR 3773, nothing that the Senate might have done, even passage of the SIC text by acclamation, could actually have enacted more than a temporary extension in time for S 1927's February 1 demise. (Which, of course, duly happened, in the form of HR 5104.)
But even play-acting can generate a feeling of purposiveness.
On Monday, both cloture motions (on the SIC amendment to its own bill (SA 3911) and to Harry's weird 30 day amendment (SA 3918) crashed and burned.
And, to judge from the Next Meeting info at the bottom of Wednesday's Daily D, today wasn't planned to be action-packed either.
A whole lot of bloviation - or, in the jargon of the place, Morning Business.
Can it really be that there is absolutely no legislation waiting for Senate floor action?
Not even Indian healthcare. S 1200 bizarrely got floor time in priority to S 1927 renewal last week. But, strangely, Senatorial concern for the well-being of the Red Man seems to have taken a bit of a dive since.
To protect America, we need to know who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they're planning. Last year, Congress passed legislation to help us do that. Unfortunately, Congress set the legislation to expire on February the 1st. That means if you don't act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger. Congress must ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America. We've had ample time for debate. The time to act is now. (Applause.)
He more or less conflates the expiry of S 1927 with the end of FISA. The little scamp.
Tagaris noted yesterday that the MSM is happy to peddle this line on the strength of GOP briefings.
I'd suggested yesterday one or two lines the WH might use in signing a 30 day bill, and while the substantive bill was being dealt with in the Capitol.
But - mea culpa - I had failed to anticipate the Bush fudge - the countdown to Feb 1 - and the apparent success with which it has been deployed.
Silly me.
I suspect that Harry knew it was coming - and wanted to limit the length of the countdown.
Which would explain why he compressed floor action into the back end of last week - and will (I'm assuming) get the 15 day bill HR 5104 (passed by the House today) passed by the Senate in time to stop the clock before FISA turns into a pumpkin.
Just another illustration of how sensible Harry and Nancy are not to trust their parties' fortunes to a media war with the WH on FISA, Iraq, subpoenas - or anything else dear to lefty spheroids' hearts...
I've talked several times - most recently here (follow the links back to earlier pieces) - about the developing FISA situation largely at the strategic level.
I believe that the strategic balance of forces, and the objectives on every side, remain much as I have identified over the last couple of months.
Now, with the essential aid of the Record and (more or less) updated bill pages on THOMAS for S 2248, we need to consider the current tactical situation. (This is the bill page, and this is the actions page. Note the URL structure: I usually assume those interested know their way about THOMAS, and can doctor URLs as necessary.)
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