Today in Congress

In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Democratic Whip:

THE NIGHTLY WHIP: THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011

TOMORROW?S OUTLOOK
On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. Members are advised that votes are expected as early as 9:15 a.m.

Last votes are expected between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.

?One Minutes? (5 per side)

Complete Consideration of H.Con.Res. 34 - Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021 (Rep. Ryan (WI) ? Budget)

The substitutes listed below will be considered in the following order, as designated by the Rule:

Grijalva/Honda/Lee (CA)/ Woolsey/Ellison Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (30 minutes of debate)
Garrett/Jordan/McClintock/Mulvaney Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (30 minutes)
Van Hollen Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (30 minutes of debate)

The Senate is not in session today. They return on Monday, May 2nd.

The siren song of the jet engines has proved too much for the Senate, and they've left town. With the small business jobs bill still unfinished!!!

The House remains behind for another day, to wrap up work on the FY2012 budget resolution, and votes on the various alternative versions. Once again, this is an actual budget, and all the commotion yesterday was over continuing appropriations, which is a different kind of beast.

Before we let go of yesterday's votes, though, I do want to point one thing out. I spent a good bit of time in the last two installments noting the absurdity of the House setting up votes on "correcting" a bill it had just considered, when everyone knows that under normal circumstances, you would just amend the bill during its consideration on the floor, thus avoiding the need for "correcting" anything after the fact. But things got even more absurd in the Senate, where the "corrections" resolutions were voted on before the continuing appropriations bill was even brought to the floor.

Remember last year, when House Democrats proposed using the reconciliation process to pass a "fix" for the health care bill first, and only then consider passing the Senate version of the bill? The Senate, led by Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) insisted that that was logically and legally impossible?you simply could not pass a bill purporting to "amend" another bill before that other bill became law, it was argued.

Well, what do you think those "corrections" measures voted on yesterday sought to do? Don't think about it too hard, because the answer is that they would have amended another bill before that bill became law.

Yes.

So... on to the budget. There's really not much to say from a procedural standpoint about the budget resolution. The majority's version will stand, as far as House consideration is concerned. In May, the Senate will return, and in years past, you could anticipate the Senate pretty much ignoring what the House did, and dictating its own terms instead. But lately, it's been the House putting the Senate over a barrel. We'll have to see what the Senate has in mind this time. But you'll have to wait for May to find out.

In the meantime, though, there is this one interesting feature of budget resolutions in general, this one being no exception. Take special note of Title IV, and section 409. Title IV contains a bunch of changes to the House rules regarding the budget process. Section 409 notes the following:

SEC. 409. EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.

      (a) In General- The House adopts the provisions of this title--

            (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of Representatives and as such they shall be considered as part of the rules of the House, and these rules shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent with other such rules; and

            (2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of the House of Representatives to change those rules at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of the House of Representatives.

Now, it's routine stuff for budget resolutions to make tweaks to the standing rules surrounding the budget process. But I'd like you to take note of how section 409 nails things down. It says explicitly that the changes made in the budget document are to be considered part of the rules of the House, adopted under "the constitutional right of the House of Representatives to change those rules at any time, in the same manner," etc.

Because this is a House document at the moment, it contains no such changes in Senate rules. But in years past, when the Senate has required such changes it has made use of the same mechanism, adding its own tweaks during its consideration of the budget resolution.

What makes this interesting?OK, what I find interesting about it?is that the budget resolution is one of the small number of privileged measures for which debate in the Senate is time-limited by statute, meaning that it cannot be filibustered (at least in the traditional sense), and therefore can be passed without the need for mustering a supermajority at any point during the proceedings.

So, put those two things together and think about what they mean. The Senate, every time it adopts a budget resolution (which is almost every year, when things are operating normally), changes its standing rules in mid-session, without the requirement of a supermajority.

Yes.

With the House still in session, there are a few hearings going on in the committees. Today's schedule and hot picks are below the fold.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/nsvHBnoSeLE/-Today-in-Congress

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