And the two words are:
DISCHARGE PETITION
As explained last week in Jed Lewison's FP Post (in case you may have missed it):
"Dems have hit on a way to use a “discharge petition,” which forces a House vote if a majority of Representatives signs it, to try to force the issue. Previously, it was thought this could not work, because a discharge petition takes 30 legislative days to ripen, so if this were tried with the clean CR that passed the Senate, this couldn’t bear fruit until some time in November.
But now House Democrats say they have found a previously filed bill to use as a discharge petition — one that would fund the government at sequester levels."
So there you have it. In a nut shell if House Dems. can get at least 218 House members to sign a Discharge Petition, a vote on a "clean" bill to re-open the government would take place on October 14. For more details on what this means and how we (the DailyKos community) can help, please join me by jumping over /\ the orange squiggle.
For those who might not know what a Discharge Petition is, its a standing rule of the House which allows a bill to be discharged from a House committee and brought to the House floor for a vote by the signatures of not less than 218 House members (i.e., a simple majority of the members), and can only be filed with the Clerk (i.e., brought to the House floor) on bills that have sat in Committee for at least 30 days without being reported to the entire body for action (i.e., the bill must have sat in committee for 30 days before it can be brought to the floor by a Discharge Petition).
That leads us to the problem House Dems. were facing with the clean CR sent over by the Senate. Since the 30 day period on that bill would apparently not expire until around the end of October / early November, and even if you were able to garner the 218 signatures (and that's a BIG IF) you would still have the government in shutdown for all of October. So Dems. originally didn't see a Discharge Petition as much of an option to re-open government. But some industrious Staffer, probably in Rep. Louise Slaughter's office (she is ranking member on the Rules Committee) who deserves a medal or bonus or something, found a previous bill to fund the government at Sequester Levels (unfortunately) sitting around in Committee whose 30 day period will end on October 14 (virtually the same bill as the stalled CR).
So on Friday, the Dem. House Caucus lead by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced that they would pursue a Discharge Petition on a bill to re-open the government on October 14 and would start gathering signatures on Monday. Now there are 200 Democrats in the House. Assuming that they all sign, just 18 House Republicans would have to sign to reach the 218 needed to bring the "clean" funding bill to the floor for a vote on October 14.
Now some may say even 18 Republicans is a tall order given the power of Party loyalty. And it is true that one would have to go back to the days of President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Tip O'Neil to find the last time a Discharge Petition was successfully used to bring a bill to the House floor by House Republicans and some "Blue Dog" Democrats (against the Speaker's wishes). So I will concede that it is a rare event, and very difficult to pull off. But in this case, I don't think its a "fools errand", for the following reasons:
1. It is widely know that at least 20 House Republicans have publicly stated they would vote for a "clean" bill to re-open the government if one came to the floor. So confronting them with a way to put such a bill on the floor, some might just sign on.
2. Putting these 20 or so moderate Republicans on the spot (lets call them "Red Dog" Republicans, opposite of "Blue Dog" Democrats) may cause them to put pressure on Boehner to bring a "clean "CR" to the floor to get them off the hook.
3. Even if we don't get enough, or any Red Dog Republicans to sign on and the petition fails, we still get a Consolation Prize. Dems. running against them in 2014 in mainly purple districts will be able to confront them with the fact that when given a clear choice to re-open government or side with the Tea Party fanatics, they chose to side with the radical right wing crazies.
So I've chosen to lead a campaign here at DailyKos to help House Dems. get the 218 signatures on this Discharge Petition.
BTW, I am not "Legally Blonde", I am not anywhere near as good looking as Reese Witherspoon, nor am I a girl. But I'm going to try to pull off the "The Reese Witherspoon Option" anyway.
For those of you who didn't watch Rachael Maddow on Friday, and therefore have no idea what the HELL I'm talking about, here's a clip from the show which at about 5.45 minutes in will explain what Reese Witherspoon has to do with Discharge Petitions.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Now that that's out of the way, its time to get serious and get down to work. As I said above, there are around 20 Red Dog House Republicans who are on record as willing to vote for a "clean" bill to re-open government, and we know who they are. I have listed them below with each of their names as a link which will take you directly to their contact page. So I would like as many Kossacks and friends of Kossacks as possible to call or E-mail at least one of these House Republicans and urge them to sign the Re-Open Government Discharge Petition, especially if you happen to live in their District. You can say/write whatever you like, but here's my suggestion:
1. Ask them if they plan on signing the Discharge Petition;
2. Let them know that you favor them signing the petition;
3. Let them know that you are aware that they have said they would vote for a "clean" bill to re-open the government and as such you see no reason why they shouldn't sign the petition which makes it possible for them to take the vote they claim they want to take; and
4. If you live in their District, make sure they are aware that if they choose to not sign the petition you will remember come the 2014 elections that they chose to side with the Tea Party members in their Party instead of having the courage to stand up for their constituents.
As you will see in the list below, many of these Republicans are from Blue States, or from the purple State of Virginia. So they already know they are seriously vulnerable to a 2014 challenge. We just need to make them aware that they can't pass a refusal to sign and end the shutdown under the voter's radar screen. Lastly, if you don't live in one of these Republican Districts,you may find that they won't accept your e-mails or calls. If that's the case, contacting your own representative is not a bad idea, even if its a Democrat. Remember we need all 200 Dems. to sign, and a little encouragement on our part can't hurt.
That said here's your list:
1. Rep. Pat Meehan (Pennsylvania - 7th District, West of Philadelphia)
2. Rep. Scott Rigell (Virginia - 2nd District, Virginia Beach Area)
3. Rep. Jon Runyan (New Jersey - 3rd District, Tom's River, North Jersey Shore west to Trenton area)
4. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania - 8th District, North of Philadelphia)
5. Rep. Lou Barletta (Pennsylvania - 11th District, Wilkes-Barre to Harrisburg)
6. Rep. Peter King (New York - 2nd District, West Babylon / Islip Long Island area)
7. Rep. Devin Nunes (California - 22nd District, East & Southeast of Fresno)
8. Rep. Charlie Dent (Pennsylvania - 15th District, Allentown to Harrisburg)
9. Rep. Frank Wolf (Virginia - 10th District, Northern Virginia West of D.C.)
10. Rep. Michael Grimm (New York - 11th District, Staten Island)
11. Rep. Erik Paulsen (Minnesota - 3rd District, West of Minneapolis)
12. Rep. Rob Wittman (Virginia -1st District, Eastern Virginia North of Norfolk))
13. Rep. Frank Lobiondo (New Jersey - 2nd District, Atlantic City & Southern New Jersey)
14. Rep. Randy Forbes (Virginia - 4th District, Southeastern Virginia and Norfolk)
15. Rep. Jim Gerlach (Pennsylvania - 6th District, West of Philadelphia)
16. Rep. Leonard Lance (New Jersey - 7th District, Southwest of Newark)
17. Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho - 2nd District, Southeast Idaho)
18. Rep. Bill Young (Florida - 13th District, St. Petersburg & Clearwater)
19. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Florida - 25th District, East of Naples to West of Miami)
20. Rep. Richard Hanna (New York - 22nd District, Utica, Rome and South)
21. Rep. Rodney Davis (Illinois - 13th District, South and East of Springfield)
22. Rep. Tim Griffin (Arkansas - 2nd District, Little Rock area)
That's the list so far, so get writing E-mails and dialing offices.
Lastly, let me leave you with this. If you think this won't matter, remember the Number One thing these folks treasure most its their political survival. They may just turn on their Party leadership if they feel like they may get booted out of office, and its up to us to make them see that as a real possibility.
Will try to post followup Diaries as things progress.