January 17, 2007: Midnight Oil, Return of the Line Item Veto, First Class Fares, & Senators' Lobbyist Spouses

[22:51]
Ethics Reform bill remains stalled.  Gregg Amendment on line item veto has somehow whipped up a minority filibuster.  Senate will get underway at 9 am tomorrow.  Somewhere between three and six will be a vote on the motion to reconsider the cloture motion on the Ethics bill.


[22:38]
No one should stand still while this Constitution is the hostage.  He holds a small red copy of the document in his hand.  It is Robert Byrd (WV) at this late hour, decrying the legislative blackmail afoot on the floor of the Senate.  The line item veto threatens the Congress's most basic power, he says.  Are the memories around here so short?  The Supreme Court ruled the line item veto unconstitutional eight years ago.  This President claims the power to sneak and peek, to snoop and scoop.  This President has taken the nation to a failed war.  And what is the response of the Senate?  To give him more unfettered authority?  We should not continue to lie down for this President or any other President.  I will not blink; I can not look the other way.  We should pass this ethics reform legislation but we should never ever hand away this power of the Congress.  We have each taken an oath to protect and defend this constitution (he holds it up) and it's about time we did!


[22:12]
Cloture motion fails; Senate Ethics Reform bill is stalled.



[21:55]
OK, here's the big daddy, it's filibuster time!  A motion to invoke cloture on Amendment 3, the "substitute" amendment, which if passed would serve as the main Ethics Reform bill coming out of the Senate.  Minority Leader McConnell (KY), ironically a sponsor of the amendment, is calling for the minority to vote against cloture.

Repubs voting for cloture: Smith, Coleman...that's it.


[21:39]
Bennett Amendment #81 passes 51-46.  There will be two more ten-minute votes. First up is a final vote on Amendment #4, the Reid gift and travel ban amendment.  This one is passing easy.


[21:28]
Now they are voting on a Bennett Amendment, #81, which "would allow travel hosted only by non-profit organizations."  But Feingold said that it would open up a loophole big enough for Jack Abramoff to drive a truck through, specifically that 501(c)(3) organizations that employed lobbyists could sponsor travel, fundamentally altering the text of the current reform bill.  Feingold urged his fellow senators to vote against it.  There are still plenty of senators milling around on the floor so it is likely that there are more votes after this one.

By the way, the threatened minority filibuster of the entire bill is still ON if the majority will not allow the Gregg line item veto amendment come to a vote.


[~21:00]
After a long quorum call the Senate is back in action, voting on amendments.  A Feingold Amendment, #54, which purports "To prohibit lobbyists and entities that retain or employ lobbyists from throwing lavish parties honoring Members at party conventions."  I love how Feingold can't resist but label the parties as "lavish."  Anyway, it passed with only five votes against it.


[19:02]
The Senate is still in a quorum call.  C-SPAN2 is replaying the debate from earlier today between Reid and Mitch McConnell (KY), the minority leader.  Reid came out and said that he was extremely disappointed in a conversation he had just had with McConnell.  According to Reid, McConnell and the minority has avowed to vote against cloture on the bill (i.e. filibuster) if there is not an up-or-down vote on Gregg's Line Item Veto Amendment (see below, 16:49). Recall that the Republicans now hold the filibuster power and can defeat cloture on any bill. Frankly I'm unclear as to why Reid doesn't want the line item veto to come to a vote because it sounds like it needs 66 votes to pass anyway (it is subject to a point of order, requiring a supermajority vote).

Reid says he promised Gregg a vote on the line item veto by Easter, but that this was not the time and place for the amendment.  He further accused Republicans of using this line item veto argument as a ruse to derail the entire Ethics Reform bill.


[17:23]
According to Joe Lieberman (CT) the Senate is in an "unfortunate gridlock" at the moment.  The line item veto has thrown things off track, which Reid suspects is the Republicans' intention.


[16:49]
Still waiting on some votes for this afternoon.  Members were just out on the floor talking about the Gregg Amendment, number 17, which would attempt to bring back a form of the line item veto.  A line item veto passed during Clinton's term but it was judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The type of line item veto here is one by which the President can hone in on specific spending provisions in bills, excise them from the bill, and send those particular provisions back to Congress to vote on one-by-one. (This is still probably unconstitutional because the President would then be signing "the leftovers" which the Congress never voted on, as a final, negotiated product.  If you take out one part and send it back, you'd have to send back the leftovers and have Congress vote on those separately, pass them, and send 'em back to the President.)  In any event, Reid does not want this amendment to go forward and is afraid that it would "bring down" the entire Ethics Reform bill.


[12:34]
Senate recess until 2:15 pm est.


[12:21]
David Vitter (LA) spoke about his amendment which seeks to prohibit senators from "having official contact with any spouse of a (senator) who is a registered lobbyist."  There is an exception in the amendment for those spouses who were employed as lobbyists at least one year prior to the marriage.  But there is no grandfather clause, per se.  Feinstein asked Vitter about this, and whether his amendment meant some people would lose their jobs upon passage of the bill.  He said this would be the case.  Feinstein is now saying that her side would accept the amendment if it were only prospective—going forward—and not retroactive.  She is also afraid that the phrase "official contact" is too broad: can a spouse attend the Supreme Court dinner?  Can a spouse call an office and get a schedule?  She is dubious.

She says Reid offered to accept the amendment if it had a grandfather clause but Vitter didn't take the offer and she's not sure why.  Vitter says, Yes, the idea is that it is going to affect people.  If it doesn't affect anyone here, then it's just window dressing.

It's unlikely this amendment will pass.  It will likely be judged non-germane by the parliamentarian and, because it is considered a second-degree amendment to the "substitute" bill, a.k.a. Amendment 3, a.k.a the only train leaving the station when this thing is all said and done, it will need 60 votes to pass post-cloture (see below, 12:13).


[12:13]
I have finally come to understand why Majority Leader Reid has offered the Ethics Reform bill (S.1.) as part of a tandem that also includes the so-called "substitute" amendment, Amendment 3.  The real bill here is not S.1. but the "substitute," which itself is an amendment to S1.  But here's the thing.  Amendment 3, the substitute, will pass.  And when it passes it renders S1 worthless.  Thus, if you are a senator offering an amendment your amendment is also worthless.  Look at the list of second-degree amendments to Amendment 3.  Every amendment to S1 also has to be an amendment to Amendment 3.  This makes every amendment to Amendment 3 a second-degree amendment.  Reid will move for cloture on Amendment 3.  When cloture is invoked, any amendment to Amendment 3 (i.e. every amendment that's out there) will have to be "germane," and if it is not germane it cannot amend the substitute unless it gets 60 votes.  Thus, Reid has constructed a means to require 60 votes of any these non-germane amendments, which keeps the bill clean and moves the process along with alacrity.


[10:06]
The order of the day is Amendment 4, the Reid Travel Amendment.  The amendment passed cloture yesterday making it harder to add second-degree amendments.  Now a second-degree amendment must be judged germane by the Senate Parliamentarian; if it is not germane, it will need 60 votes for passage.  Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) said that there are three or four germane second-degree amendments and the Senate will vote on these today, after which time the Senate will vote on final passage of the amendment. All of this could take until 10 :30 tonight, said Reid.

From there, it looks like there are 30 or so amendments on the bill-at-large that floor leaders Feinstein and Bennett can both agree to.  These amendments can be voted for en bloc, by a voice vote.  That will lead to a cloture vote on the substitute amendment, which is essentially the working Ethics Bill.  Reid will move for cloture on that.  After cloture, a few non-germane amendments will remain and he and McConnell will decide which of these the Senate will vote on (60 votes needed).  Finally, once all of the amendments are done with, the Senate will vote on final passage of the bill.