"Coburn Omnibus" on its way

Look for Harry Reid to start the ball rolling today on the "Coburn Omnibus" (what's an "omnibus?") today:

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning a "Coburn Omnibus" for July that would wrap most if not all of the bills held by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) into one large measure to be voted on by the Senate, according to a Coburn aide and two Democratic leadership staffers.

Coburn is blocking roughly a hundred bills that are generally non-controversial or have broad support. By placing a hold, Coburn prevents the bills from passing quickly through the Senate under a unanimous consent request. With floor time at such a premium, Reid would have trouble bringing up each bill for an individual debate and vote.

But in a stroke of legislative creativity that may have no precedent, Reid could lump all of the bills into one package and bring up the Coburn Omnibus for a single vote. Coburn can still object, but the broad popularity of the bills means that there would likely be more than enough support for veto-proof passage.

Reid will likely start with a motion to proceed and an immediate filing of a cloture motion on that motion to proceed. It will take two days for the cloture motion to "ripen" so that there can be a vote.

By the way, do you want to see some seriously crazy Senate-ese? Look at how they express the fact that it takes two days to get to a vote on cloture:

[O]ne hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, [the Presiding Officer] shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question....

One hour after they meet on the following calendar day but one.

Or to you and me, "two days later." But because both the House and the Senate will sometimes play with the time-space continuum for procedural reasons, creating "legislative days" that don't coincide entirely with the "calendar days" you and I recognize as being the standard measurement of time, we have to have a definition like this one.

So that means it will take until one hour after the Senate convenes on Wednesday before they can even vote on whether or not to end debate on the question of whether or not to begin debate on the Coburn package (that is, a vote on the motion to proceed to consider the omnibus bill). Should there be 60 votes for cloture, Coburn (and any allies, if he has any left) will still be entitled to 30 hours of post-cloture debate. The number of allies Coburn can round up will determine how far he can push it:

Thereafter no Senator shall be entitled to speak in all more than one hour on the measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the amendments thereto, and motions affecting the same, and it shall be the duty of the Presiding Officer to keep the time of each Senator who speaks.

After no more than thirty hours of consideration of the measure, motion, or other matter on which cloture has been invoked, the Senate shall proceed, without any further debate on any question, to vote on the final disposition thereof...

So if Coburn has 29 other supporters, that could bring us into late evening Thursday or even Friday before we get done with post-cloture debate on the motion to proceed, and get to the actual Coburn package itself. Then, the package too is subject to yet another filibuster by Coburn, if he's so inclined. Reid will likely file immediately for cloture on that, too. But that will take two days to come to a vote also, meaning they'll still be waiting to vote for cloture until Tuesday of next week, barring a weekend session (which we may actually see) or Coburn's early surrender. Should cloture be invoked, Coburn and any allies get another 30 post-cloture hours, possibly dragging the vote on final passage out until at least Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

If it's literally only Coburn, the chances of him staying on his feet long enough to get to "the next calendar day but one" is virtually nil, and the moment he sits down, an opponent can ask for unanimous consent to proceed right to the bill, and Coburn will be unconscious and unable to object.

More likely, though, is a scenario in which very few of Coburn's colleagues are willing to join him in chewing up the clock. If it's Coburn and just a handful of allies and no alternative arrangement is agreed upon by unanimous consent beforehand, then Coburn and each of his friends get an hour after the cloture vote on Wednesday. That would mean just a few hours of post-cloture debate thereafter, and then on to the omnibus bill, with the second cloture vote able to be scheduled on Friday, and a final vote after each member of the Coburn gang uses up his or her one hour of post-cloture time late on Friday.