More on the GOP’s determination to screw the Senate to a parade rest
Senate Republicans appear to be launching all-out procedural warfare in an attempt to keep Democrats from passing a health care bill before Christmas.
Sen. Tom Coburn , R-Okla., objected Wednesday morning to a routine request to waive the reading of a 767-page amendment by Bernard Sanders , I-Vt., that would create a single-payer health care system. Sanders’ amendment is highly unlikely to be adopted, but its reading out loud gobbles up several hours increasingly scarce floor time. One GOP leadership aide said he expected the reading to take “a long time,” while another noted that just the amendment’s table of contents, which is six pages in length, took a clerk 17 minutes to read.
Coburn’s move may foreshadow a GOP move to further delay floor action by forcing clerks to read aloud the yet-to-be unveiled manager’s amendment that Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., and his staff have been working to craft behind closed doors. That amendment is expected to incorporate all remaining changes to the bill before Senate passage.
Sen. Judd Gregg , R-N.H., complaining that the “essence of the bill” was being crafted in secret, responded, “I would certainly think so” when asked if Republicans would force the reading of the Reid package, which is expected to be as many as 300 pages long.
“I mean nobody got to see it,” Gregg said.
Before he can get to a final passage vote, Reid will probably have to invoke cloture — or limit debate — three times, a process that Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., has estimated would take “six or seven days” to complete. Democrats will have to muster 60 votes each time — either by holding every member of their caucus in line, or by winning over one or more Republicans.
Reid remained coy about when he would unveil his manager’s package, saying only that he was “pretty close” to finalizing the measure.
When asked if he had 60 votes locked down to advance the package, Reid responded, “We’ll find out, won’t we.”
