Recapping yesterday's action:
The House finally did manage to save (orange) face for Speaker Boehner, by passing his debt ceiling hike proposal by a margin of 218-210. Oh, and they also finally passed three of those post office naming bills that have been hanging around all week, and established a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.
The Senate basically hung out all day, waiting for the House to send over the Boehner plan, whereupon they killed it by a vote of 59-41. How did they "kill" it? They actually "tabled" it, which is the much more genteel way of saying they're not going to consider it at all. (That is, take the papers the bill is written on and put them on a figurative table, and leave them there forever.) Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 627 (remember, that's how the House sent its plan over—as a substitute amendment to an unrelated Senate-passed bill), and then a motion to table his own motion to concur. See?
Reid also filed a cloture motion for a separate motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 627 with a further amendment, that being the text of his own plan. So if there's no agreement on setting a time for a vote any time soon, then we can expect to see a cloture vote on the Reid plan on Sunday. But note that there's just that one cloture vote necessary. They don't need to do a motion to proceed to it, because they're moving to concur in a message from the House, and that's privileged, and the motion to proceed to the motion to concur is non-debatable.
Get it?
This is why your local newspaper doesn't even bother to explain it to you.
Looking ahead to today:
We won't have to wait until Sunday to get a vote on the Reid plan, though. The House is poised to set the plan up for failure today. Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA) introduced the text of the Reid plan in the House, and will bring it to the floor under suspension of the rules today, meaning that it will get 40 minutes of debate, allow no amendments and no motion to recommit, and require a 2/3 vote to pass. And obviously it won't get that. So the headline the Gop (not "the gee oh pee"—I'm adopting @StopBeck's suggestion here) is looking for is, "Reid plan defeated in the House." Which they'll get, along with perhaps some half-hearted explanation in the seventh paragraph, probably not mentioning that it was a set-up from the start. This despite the fact that Dreier did his best to get the press to believe he wasn't doing this. But you'll know better.
The Senate spends another day sitting and waiting today. Unless by some miracle they can get unanimous consent to vote on the Reid plan earlier (formally the "motion to concur in the House message to accompany S.627 with the Reid amendment #589"), they'll need to burn the day running out the one-calendar-day-plus-one-hour clock before the cloture motion is eligible ("ripe") for a vote.
For those of you scoring at home, note that it's not 30 hours. Thirty hours is the time limit on post-cloture debate. The time that has to pass between a cloture filing and a vote is a complete calendar day following the day on which they motion is filed, and then one hour of the Senate's session on the day following that full calendar day. Basically a minimum of 25 hours, if you file for cloture at 11:59 p.m., and convene just after midnight a full day later.
Today's floor schedules appear below the fold.
In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Democratic Whip:
THE NIGHTLY WHIP: FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2011
TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
On Saturday, the House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.
First votes are expected at 1:00 p.m.
Last votes are expected between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.
**Members are advised that following “One Minutes” the House is expected to recess until 1:00 p.m.
“One Minutes” (15 per side)
Suspension (1 Bill)
H.R. 2693 - Budget Control Act of 2011 (Rep. Dreier – Rules/Budget/Energy and Commerce/ Education and the Workforce/Ways and Means/Science and Technology)
Postponed Suspension Votes (3):
- H.R. 1975 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 281 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, as the "First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building" (Rep. Schiff - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 1843 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 489 Army Drive in Barrigada, Guam, as the "John Pangelinan Gerber Post Office Building” (Rep. Bordallo - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 2062 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 45 Meetinghouse Lane in Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts, as the "Matthew A. Pucino Post Office" (Rep. Keating - Oversight and Government Reform)
HOUSE FLOOR WRAP-UP FOR JULY 29, 2011
Considered and Passed:
S. 627 – Speaker Boehner’s Short Term Default Act (218 – 210)
- Motion to Recommit Amendment – Not Adopted:
·Offered by Rep. Hochul (NY) (183 - 244)
Bills Adopted Under Suspension of the Rules (4):
- H.R. 440 - To provide for the establishment of the Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia (Rep. Wolf - Foreign Affairs)
- H.R. 2244 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 67 Castle Street in Geneva, New York, as the "Corporal Steven Blaine Riccione Post Office" (Rep. Hanna - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 2213 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 801 West Eastport Street in Iuka, Mississippi, as the "Sergeant Jason W. Vaughn Post Office" (Rep. Nunnelee - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 789 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 20 Main Street in Little Ferry, New Jersey, as the "Sergeant Matthew J. Fenton Post Office" (Rep. Rothman - Oversight and Government Reform)
In the Senate, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
Senate Floor Schedule for Saturday, July 30, 2011
Convenes: 1:00pm
Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur in the House message to accompany S.627, the legislative vehicle for the debt limit increase.
The time from 1:30pm until 7:30pm will be equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees with the Majority and the Republicans controlling alternating 30-minute blocks of time with the Majority controlling the first block. Additionally, the time from 7:30pm until 8:00pm will be equally divided and controlled with the Republicans controlling the first 15 minutes and the Majority controlling the final 15 minutes.
As a reminder to all Senators, Senator Reid filed cloture on the motion to concur in the House message to accompany S.627 with the Reid amendment #589.
Roll Call Votes
- On the Motion (Motion to Instruct the Sergeant at Arms to Request Absent Senators ). Motion Agreed to, 76-23.
- On the Motion to Table (Motion to Table the Motion to Concur in the House Amendment to S. 627 ). Motion to Table Agreed to, 59-41.