Reply #114: It was rigged.

[Marie26]

Republicans rigged this vote so that the bill would be passed. They did this by changing the Parliamentary Rules of the House - Republicans passed a "special rule" that waives the normal parliamentary rules & decides how debate can be held on this bill only. Parliamentary rules for Congress specify how the bill-passing process must work - when a bill can be introduced, how long the debate is, how long members have to vote, etc. But with a majority vote of the House, the House can create a "special rule" that replaces the normal parliamentary rules for the vote on a specific bill. Normally this is done to move a bill up in the schedule.

Not this time. The Republicans passed a "special parliamentary rule" this morning that ONLY applies to the debate on this energy bill. Here's the text of the "special rule". http://www.rules.house.gov/109/specialrules/109rulehr3893.htm
This rule completely rigs the system and make it almost impossible for the bill to be voted down, and also makes it IMPOSSIBLE for any Congressman to protest this vote. It's absolutely disgusting.

- Normally, if a Congressman thinks another member is violating the rules, he can rise and make a "point of order." Then he explains to the Chair why he feels the rule has been broken, and the Chairman rules. It's like raising an objection in court. If the Congressman is unhappy, he can still appeal & the whole House then votes on whether a violation has occured.

Check this out: this new "special rule" waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. This means a Congressman CAN'T PROTEST, even if he thinks the rules are being violated, because all protest against the consideration of this bill are officially WAIVED. It doesn't matter how often a member tries to protest & make a "point of order," against consideration at this time, the House simply won't consider it.

- Next, the "special rule":
"4.Provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Energy and Commerce now printed in the bill, modified by the amendment printed in part A of the Rules Committee report accompanying the resolution, shall be considered as adopted."
"5. Waives all points of order against the bill as amended."

So, the "special rule" AUTOMATICALLY includes this amendment without any debate. This is not democracy - under normal rules, legislators have to debate & vote on whether an amendment is included. Not here. Under the "special rule," the amendment is automatically "considered adopted" into the bill. Representatives also can't protest this action, because ALL points of order against this bill as amended are also BANNED. You can't protest anything during the time this special rule is in force.

- Finally, the "special rule" has two new and innvotive rules for how long members have to vote. Normally, legislators have about 5 minutes to enter their vote. Not here.

"6. Makes in order the amendment printed in part B of the Rules Committee report accompanying the resolution, if offered by Representative Stupak of Michigan or his designee, which shall be considered as read, and which shall be debatable for 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent.
7. Waives all points of order against the amendment printed in part B of the report. "

This part means that if Rep. Stupak (and only Rep. Stupak) offers up a seperate amendment (Amendment B) - the Congress will have an extra 40 minutes to debate this amendment. And of course, all protests against this action are also waived.

The Republicans knew this would be a close vote - this was their ace in the hole. If the vote is tied, or it's voted down, Rep. Stupak can then introduce his Super-Duper Amendment B, and this automatically extends the time for debate another 40 minutes. This gives the Republicans more time to twist arms, make threats, etc. to get those votes changed. Which they did. This is probably what the Democrats were shouting "shame" about. They couldn't make a "point of order" to protest the extra voting time (that's waived), they couldn't appeal to the Chair, they couldn't do anything. They were shouting "shame" in a gesture of absolute helplessness and anger.

So, Congress passed a rule that automatically adopts amendments without debate, extends the time for voting by 40 minutes, and prevents any Congressman from actually protesting these illegal actions. By "waiving" points of order, it means the Rep. doesn't even get to raise the issue or point out the unfairness on the floor. Wouldn't want those voters watching C-Span to hear what they're doing.

Now I get why Pelosi was saying Congress has a "culture of corruption" and was acting like a "banana republic." It's both. This is an action you might expect in a Third World country verging on civil war, not the United States of America. This is not a democracy. I'm just horrified. And the worst part is that they've probably been doing it all along, they're just getting more brazen and reckless as time goes by.