achelousb01: Today in Congress

Recapping yesterday's action:

What can I tell you? The House passed H.R. 3, which is at once one of the most dangerous and vindictive bills I've ever seen. It's said to have little chance of passing the Senate, and the President has issued a veto threat. But I'll just warn you that the stand-alone version of H.R. 3 probably won't be our big worry here. It'll be the multiple attempts we're likely to see for Republican Senators to try to attach it to various must-pass bills (and probably some not-so-must, just for the hell of it). Of course, getting it past the Senate still means overcoming the 60-vote threshold that the filibuster imposes. But remember that the dynamics of the filibuster aren't the same for the majority party as they are for the minority.

On the Senate side it was, as promised, a day of cloture voting. A big fail on the Small Business Jobs bill, but a success on the judicial nomination. And a very particular kind of success at that: cloture was invoked by a vote of 63-33 (with Hatch voting present); but the nomination itself passed by just 50-44. Meaning 11 Republicans did what they always used to say they should do in situations like this: vote for cloture but against the nomination. So, you know, good for them!

By the way, why can't they get that damn Small Business Jobs bill over with? Is it really so contentious that they can't agree on it? No, that's not really it. Rather, the bill is pretty much a big "meh." It falls into the category of not-so-must pass that I mentioned above. So what happens to not-so-must pass bills these days? Well, part of the informal "gentleman's agreement" that came out of the rules reform fight earlier this year is the deal that allows more Republican amendments to be brought to the floor in exchange for Republican agreement not to filibuster motions to proceed. Republicans kinda-sorta lived up to that part. There was a sort of filibuster of the motion to proceed on this bill, but there were also 32 Republican votes for cloture on the motion, so although the bill was delayed, it didn't have to linger too long before formal debate could actually begin.

But that's just where the problems began. Because once this "meh" bill that nobody was particularly passionate about passing got to the floor, it was time to call in the chits on the Democratic side of the bargain, meaning that it was open season for Republican amendments. This bill no one really cared that much about was now a captive vehicle on the floor, something to which every Republican could attempt to attach any crazy-ass amendment they could come up with.

So if you had something like that, would you let it go so easily? Probably not. And neither did the Senate Republicans. The 32 Republican votes for cloture on the motion to proceed have all magically evaporated, and not a single one of them voted for cloture on the actual bill yesterday.

And there, in a nutshell, is the result of the "gentleman's agreement." Republicans said they would stop filibustering the motions to proceed if Democrats would stop blocking their ability to offer amendments. But they didn't say they wouldn't filibuster the bills themselves, once they got to the floor. So now we're stuck with a situation that's no more productive in terms of moving legislation than the constant filibustering of the last Congress, but adds to the mix the new dynamic that allows Republicans to use the Senate floor for an unceasing parade of crazy.

Winning!

Looking ahead to today:

With no prospects for escaping the new hole they've dug for themselves, the Senate has absolutely nothing on tap for today. They've got no votes scheduled until Monday, and they're not even sure what that vote is going to be. Only that it'll "relate to a nomination." Which might mean a cloture vote on one, rather than a confirmation vote. We'll have to watch and see whether Harry Reid files any cloture petitions today before we get any clue.

The House will take up H.R. 1230, the first of two offshore oil drilling free-for-all bills. When the BP Deepwater Horizon well exploded and sent its oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for three months straight, some people thought it might be a good idea to take a second look at how we regulate such stuff. Similarly, when the agency that was at the time in charge of overseeing this kind of drilling was found to be riddled with porn and drug addicts, some people thought that was a good reason to back off for a bit, too.

Those people were not Republicans, though.

So although the administration has since overhauled the agency and even restarted offshore oil leasing, here we are with a Republican bill before us that says, "Yes, you're doing what we wanted you to do, but we want you to do it faster, and pretend you weren't already doing it so that we can say you suck."

And that's where we stand.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.