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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    10 steps to today’s Senate vote-a-rama

    10 steps to today’s Senate vote-a-rama

    BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS
    McClatchy Washington Bureau March 26, 2015 Updated 2 hours ago

    WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday begins a “vote-a-rama,” an up-all-night cram session in which lawmakers will vote on scores of amendments that carry no legal weight to a Republican-sponsored budget resolution that’s only a blueprint.

    But that hasn’t stopped them from filing hundreds of amendments for which they’ll trudge – or perhaps sleepwalk -- in and out of the Senate chamber into the wee hours of Friday.


    What is this vote-a-rama? Here are 10 things to know:


    1.

    Senators have 50 hours to debate the federal budget resolution, which is designed as a blueprint for the nation’s long-term spending priorities. It has no force of law. Amendment votes can occur at any point before the time is up. Congress is supposed to complete action on a budget resolution by April 15, according to the Congressional Research Service.

    2.

    So throughout Thursday, senators will vote on nonbinding amendments -- symbolic gestures designed more for senators to tout their legislative agendas, boost their campaign prospects and draw sharp contrasts between the two political parties than to become actual policy.
    “It’s become more political, there’s no doubt about it,” said former Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md., an ambassador in-residence at Washington’s American University.

    3.

    Senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments without fear of them being blocked, or filibustered, courtesy of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act. Late Wednesday evening, nearly 970 measures were listed on the Senate’s amendment tracking system.

    4.

    Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., considers the “vote-a-rama” “dumb” because “We’ll stay up all night voting on amendments that don’t have the force of law.”

    5.

    But that didn’t stop her from offering a half dozen amendments in the 2013 voting marathon, including measures that supported the overhaul of trade tariffs and made it easier for veterans to transition to the civilian workforce.

    6.

    And it’s not just the Republican-controlled Senate. The chamber’s last “vote-a-rama” was in March 2013 when Democrats were in charge. Then, lawmakers filed more than 500 amendments. Only a fraction of them came up for votes, but lawmakers still spent more than 13 hours saying “aye” or “no.”

    7.

    The amendments this week range from the serious to pure political theater. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, got a head start on the voting marathon Tuesday with his amendment “to raise taxes and spending by enacting President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2016 budget.” It failed 1-98 and succeeded in giving Cornyn rhetorical ammunition against his Democratic colleagues; he immediately put out a news release.

    8.

    Vote-a-rama gives presidential hopefuls more in the way of platform. Consider Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has at least 25 amendments lined up. One would decrease U.S. foreign aid to Palestinians while increasing aid to Israel. Another calls for the United States to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

    9.

    But other senators have points they want to make too. Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, takes aim at her congressional colleagues -- and perhaps Obama -- in two separate amendments. She wants to “prohibit taxpayer dollars for first-class airplane travel by members of Congress” in one and revamp “the allowance and perks available to former presidents” on the other.
    All Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla, wants is a little less mail. He has an amendment to “provide relief from the redundant annual privacy notice mailings required to be provided by financial institutions” when there haven’t been changes in the policy.

    10.

    By sunrise Friday, the amendment votes are likely to be over, the budget resolution passed and the senators headed out of town for a two-week spring break.

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/03/2...nate-vote.html

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  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    URGENT ACTION
    CHRIS CHMIELENSKI
    Votes on Senate Budget amendments to defund Obama's amnesties, end Birthright Citizenship, and increase foreign tech workers -- Call your Senators!
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  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    House approves GOP budget blueprint

    After setbacks and infighting, conference comes together for ‘unifying experience’ vote.

    By JOHN BRESNAHAN, JAKE SHERMAN and RACHAEL BADE

    3/25/15 11:17 AM EDT
    Updated 3/25/15 11:06 PM EDT

    Speaker John Boehner and his top lieutenants finally scored a big win.

    After two weeks of backroom negotiations with fiscal conservatives and defense hawks, the House approved a spending blueprint that would balance the budget in a decade, transform Medicare and Medicaid, prevent tax increases and repeal Obamacare.


    Unlike previous budget fights, where Republicans came out on the losing end in a battle over immigration and funding the Department of Homeland Security, GOP leaders sounded confident throughout the day on Wednesday. They didn’t even huddle with their members before the vote on the 2016 budget resolution.

    In a complicated parliamentary procedure that saw six different budget plans voted on, the House first adopted a GOP-leadership backed proposal that includes $20 billion in military spending beyond what the Budget Committee had approved last week. The extra Pentagon money was an effort by Boehner to win support from defense hawks for the measure.


    ALSO ON POLITICO
    Why the 'hell no' caucus is saying 'yes' to the budget

    The vote on that proposal — known as “Price 2,” after Budget Committee chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) — was 219-208.

    Then, in a final vote, the House approved a budget resolution by a 228-199 margin.


    Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who along with Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) helped shepherd the budget plan thorough the House, said the leadership-backed plan — which cuts spending by $5.5 trillion over the next decade — clearly showed Republican priorities.


    “Republicans are making our vision very clear,” McCarthy said on the floor. “In our vision, Washington lives within its means. In our vision, we don’t raise taxes on the American people. In our vision, we set the stage for a strong American future. … This budget is a better path.”


    “Budgets are always tough,” added Scalise, who faced some internal GOP criticism about his vote counts before Wednesday’s win. “The toughest thing is that you’re dealing with a bunch of different issues.

    We worked hard for weeks to bring fiscal and defense hawks together. Very unifying experience. The budget is not only a unifying experience for House Republicans, but it’s a visionary document.”


    Throughout the day, Republican leaders were confident their favored budget would prevail. Still, they promised to keep working their rank and file right up to the vote, particularly after a series of embarrassing stumbles early in the year, including the humiliating defeat at the hands of President Barack Obama and Democrats over immigration and Homeland Security funding.


    “I think it shows we can start to govern, but I also think it shows that in order to get to ‘Yes,’ we have to start talking about the elephant in the room,” said Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), a member of the whip organization, referring to the divide in the GOP between between ultra-conservatism and the more modern wing.


    Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who heads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was a big reason for the seamless, drama-free budget vote. Jordan could have rallied his far-right conservative members against the measure and made life very difficult for leadership, but he blessed the dual-budget-vote strategy, giving conservatives a chance to make their voices heard and leadership a path forward.


    Jordan, in fact, helped come up with idea for multiple budget votes in order to build support for the leadership plan.

    With only 188 members, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and her fellow Democrats had little hope of derailing the GOP resolution once Boehner was able to pacify both defense and fiscal hawks.


    But it didn’t stop Democrats from trying. Pelosi was especially critical of Republican plans to hold another vote to repeal Obamacare, noting there is no way for such an effort to succeed while Obama sits in the Oval Office.


    “It’s time for Republicans to abandon their fuzzy math and their broken priorities and come together with Democrats to pass a budget dedicated to the future of hard-working American families,” Pelosi said. “I think that’s what we all came here to do, Democrats and Republicans. But you’d never know it to see not one, but two, of the Republican budgets they have put forth today.”


    House Democratic leaders got a vote on their own budget plan, as did the conservative Republican Study Committee, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.


    The Democratic alternative, which the minority party claimed would boost wages for middle-income earners, gut tax deductions for wealthy CEOs and keep Obamacare intact, failed 160-264. So did the conservative RSC budget, 132-294, which balances the budget in six years with $7.1 trillion worth of spending cuts.

    The Progressive Budget alternative failed 96 to 330, with key Democrats like Pelosi and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland voting against the proposal. The Congressional Black Caucus Budget was also rejected, 120 to 306.


    The multi-vote strategy is called Queen of the Hill, in parliamentary terms. Under the procedure, only the proposal that got the most votes would be used for House-Senate negotiations on a final budget resolution.


    Passing a budget is key for Boehner and the leadership team. Rep. Renee Ellmers, a North Carolina Republican, said a budget victory gives the GOP a clean slate after a rocky start to the conservative reign on Capitol Hill: “We have had some unfortunate situations we had to deal with, but this will allow us [to] get back on solid ground and move forward.”


    Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), a senior member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, took a more measured tone, saying passage is “a really good first step,” while arguing House Republicans “still got a lot of work to do.”


    Brady said a House-passed budget should up the ante for the Senate to act on its own fiscal blueprint. Once the two chambers can hammer out a final budget deal, they can get started on fast-tracking an Obamacare repeal or tax reform through the wonky Senate procedure known as reconciliation.

    “It certainly creates pressure for the Senate to pass a budget,” the Texas Republican said off the chamber floor. “I mean, no excuses — none. … Once they get that out, we can take the next step and try to find that unified House-Senate budget that really sets us up for reconciliation.”


    The Senate is slated to vote on its budget Thursday night or in the early hours of Friday morning, after an hours-long “vote-a-rama” to consider amendments.


    Enacting a budget resolution will allow Republicans to force a vote on repealing Obamacare under reconciliation, meaning it will only need 51 votes to get through the Senate, not the usual 60 votes.

    Obama would veto such legislation, and Democrats would sustain that veto, but it would help Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — and their vulnerable members facing reelection next year — show the GOP base how serious they are in confronting the president after the DHS debacle.


    Tax reform could also be considered under a similar expedited process, although the likelihood of a major tax rewrite getting through this Congress is low.


    In addition, spending levels for all 12 annual appropriations bills would be set by an enacted budget resolution. That could make it easier to clear spending bills, and keep the government funded, in a more orderly fashion — something Congress has failed to do in recent years.


    On Thursday, House Republicans will likely add another feather to their caps, passing a rare bipartisan Medicare reform that puts payments to doctors on solid footing from here on out.


    The current so-called Sustainable Growth Rate formula under law has called for cuts in doctors’ Medicare payments for years, but Congress always patched them over so the cuts never went into effect — a ritual that’s become a nuisance for policymakers.


    The Medicare deal, struck between Boehner and Pelosi, heads to the Senate later this week, where its fate is uncertain, though looking more promising as Democrats warm to the proposal.


    But outside conservative groups such as Heritage Action argue the Boehner-Pelosi agreement costs far more than advertised. Proponents and opponents of the measure both saw something to like in a new Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday, and they cited different data to bolster their claims that the plan would cut or increase the deficit over the next two decades.


    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/0...#ixzz3VWNAvglC

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  4. #4
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Capitol Hill Buzz: Senators Vote on Amendments, Score Points

    WASHINGTON — Mar 26, 2015, 6:07 PM ET
    By ERICA WERNER Associated Press

    The Senate is a place where hidebound tradition mixes with raw politics, sometimes with a touch of the absurd. Then there's the "vote-a-rama."

    That's the official name for the marathon voting session that accompanies the Senate's consideration of a budget. It's a side effect of special rules that govern the budget debate and allow senators to plow quickly through stacks of amendments offered in close to real time, instead of moving at a snail's pace as is more typically the Senate way.


    The vote-a-rama started at noon Thursday and would end sometime late at night or early Friday morning. The last one, in 2013, stretched well past 3 a.m. More than 700 amendments had been filed Thursday as the process got under way, though not all would come to a vote.


    Or as the Republicans' Budget Committee chairman, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, put it: "We'll keep voting until we're exhausted ... That's the way we do it in the Senate."


    The multiple amendment votes, many requiring a simple majority to prevail, were all nonbinding and stood little chance of ever becoming law.


    Despite that, or because of it, there was plenty of opportunity to score points or showcase one stance or another.


    Two of the Senate's likely GOP presidential candidates, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, laid down markers with amendments boosting defense spending by $76 billion in the budget. Rubio's was defeated 32-68, while the plan from Paul went down with only four "yes" votes.
    Paul's approach required the spending to be paid for by cutting domestic programs while Rubio's did not.


    Presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas and potential White House hopeful Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted for Rubio's amendment but against Paul's.


    Democrats used the opportunity to try to create politically difficult votes for the Republicans who will be defending their seats in swing states next year. Next year's Senate elections will have Republicans on defense because they are trying to keep many more seats than Democrats, including seven in states that President Barack Obama won in 2012.


    Sensing opportunity, Democrats advanced a series of amendments on issues aimed at middle-class voters, including jobs for veterans, paying for community college and allowing paid sick leave.


    The paid sick leave amendment, by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., hit home as it passed with 61 "yes" votes, including from the more vulnerable Republicans up for re-election in 2016: Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Rob Portman of Ohio and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.


    Toomey and Johnson even switched their votes to "yes" after initially voting "no" on the amendment, though in both cases spokesmen said they simply made a mistake in their first "no" vote. "There are a lot of votes happening right now, simple mistake," said Johnson's spokeswoman, Melinda Schnell.


    Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who chairs the Senate Republicans' campaign arm, shrugged off the significance of the amendment votes on the budget. "We got elected to make tough decisions," he said.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...oints-29935986

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  6. #6
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    The Senate is voting on hundreds of amendments today that if passed would be added to the 2016 Budget bill. A few of these amendments are directly related to immigration policy.

    McCain Amendment #360
    would allow for in-country processing of refugees without tightening the requirements for foreign citizens to demonstrate their need for refugee status. NumbersUSA opposes this amendment.


    Please ask your Senators to vote NO on the McCain amendment.
    NO AMNESTY

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    Senior Member vistalad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnDoe2 View Post
    10.By sunrise Friday, the amendment votes are likely to be over, the budget resolution passed and the senators headed out of town for a two-week spring break.
    A.K.A., "The play is over, go home."
    ********************************
    Americans first in this magnificent country

    American jobs for American workers

    Fair trade, not free trade

  8. #8
    Senior Member vistalad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnDoe2 View Post
    McCain Amendment #360 would allow for in-country processing of refugees without tightening the requirements for foreign citizens to demonstrate their need for refugee status. NumbersUSA opposes this amendment.

    Please ask your Senators to vote NO on the McCain amendment.
    IMO McCain took one too many bops to the head, when he was a POW.

    How any rational American could not want realistic barriers to claiming refugee status is incomprehensible. Americans workforce participation is down, wages are stagnant, and even our STEM graduates are having difficulty getting jobs in STEM fields.

    I'd love to learn why it is that these "refugees" never want to go to a country where the people already speak their language.
    *********************************
    Americans first in this magnificent country

    American jobs for American workers

    Fair trade, not free trade
    Last edited by vistalad; 03-27-2015 at 03:36 PM.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    McCain is on the take with the cartels. Come on! That whole Gang of Eight is the cartels in-country Board of Directors.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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  10. #10
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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