"Senate parliamentarian telling hill staff that GOP aides misinterpreted his opinion"

[jefferson_dem]

Surprise, Surprise...

Senate parliamentarian telling hill staff that GOP aides misinterpreted his opinion on health care + reconciliation process.

http://twitter.com/abettel/statuses/10369393281

[babylonsister]

1. And I'm sure that wasn't a calculated move by the gop. Sure of it! nt

[Syrinx]

2. interesting...

This is the guy the GOP has been bad-mouthing this past week, saying he couldn't be trusted. And he's also the same guy they put in the job, when in 2004 they fired the serving parliamentarian for ruling that the GOP was abusing the reconciliation process.

Those silly Republicans. :)

(Someone rec this thread for me please. I hit unrec, by mistake, and I don't know how to undo it.)

[Jennicut]

8. Lott fired Robert Dove in 2004 and Alan Frumin took over.

Frumin seems a decent, non partisan type and it was agreed upon by both parties that he be the Parlimentarian. The Rethugs have no case here.

[City Lights]

3. How convenient!

The GOPer aide's misinterpretation was reported as fact last night on the cable nooze shows. I wonder if this will receive the same amount of air time. x(

[Raine1967]

4. Thanks for the follow up !

You know I really do appreciate it Mr. _dem!

My suspicions were that someone was trying to muddy up the water -- I'm SHOCKED I tell you SHOCKED!

With all the lies the GOP has put out there for the past year, this latest one is almost the lamest.


Edited to add: Roll call should have done a FAR better job of confirming that story.

[HughMoran]

5. You can bet they ran to the nearest camera while he was mid-sentence

Like you'd expect from any child who only wants to hear one thing.

[Clio the Leo]

6. Yay! I'm SO glad to be WRONG!!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=218552&mesg_id=219138

(but then again, maybe I wasn't)

[mod mom]

7. I hate to rain on the parade, but is someone's tweet really a reliable source?

Can we get some back up on this before we celebrate. I googled and only found that VP can over rule parliamentarian.

[jefferson_dem]

9. Fair point.

Note that this tweet came from a reliable source: Adriel Bettelheim, who is Managing Editor, News at Congressional Quarterly. I am looking for confirmation, however, and none has turned up yet. Could be that Adriel was told this on "background" and it will surface in other sources soon.

[mod mom]

10. Sorry, I wasn't aware of who Adriel Bettelheim is. Hopefully the Parliamentarian

himself will clarify his position.

:hi:

[Clio the Leo]

13. advice: get on "the twitter"

.... we're not working as a team obviously, but I know Jeff posts the same kinds of OP I do .... we get them from established journalists and well know bloggers (like Kos.) The authors in question tweet either AS they are writing the story or as they publish it OR "inside" info they're getting from official sources.

I see the news on Twitter before I see it anywhere else. Again, it's not gossip, it's legitimate, sourced information. But your skepticism is understandable. I didn't take Twitter seriously until the Iranian elections.

Here's my follow list if you want some good sources....

http://twitter.com/CliotheLeo/following

[jefferson_dem]

15. Couldn't live without twitter, Clio.

It's *the* essential news feed/filter.

[Clio the Leo]

16. I have an addiction I'm afraid...

.... been known to (read) Twitter during church .... not during a prayer or anything, but the announcements .... sometimes. :)

(keep up the Sunday morning play by play btw, I read them between church and sunday school lol)

... and while waiting at red lights .... but heck, everyone does that! (heh)

[jefferson_dem]

11. UPDATE: Update on reconciliation

Update on reconciliation
by David Waldman

Share this on Twitter - Update on reconciliation Fri Mar 12, 2010 at 07:00:04 AM PST

Republicans have been lying about reconciliation being the "nuclear option" for weeks. So it should come as no surprise that CQ (subscription) now reports:

Republican aides, reporting the decision, interpreted it to mean the House would have to clear the Senate bill and President Obama would have to sign it before the reconciliation bill could be passed. House leaders had been hoping that the two bills could be passed almost simultaneously.

The parliamentarian, however, later reportedly clarified his position to Senate aides, saying that the reconciliation bill could be written in a way that would not require Obama to sign the Senate bill into law before the reconciliation bill is voted on.

Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

If you don't have a CQ subscription, for now you'll have to settle for Politico's story:

According to reporting by POLITICO’s David Rogers, the accounts aren’t accurate and misconstrue what the Senate parliamentarians have said. That is that reconciliation must amend law but this could be done without the Senate bill being enacted first. “It is wholly possible to create law and qualify law before the law is on the books,” said one person familiar with situation.

For example, if the big bill itself amends some Social Security statute, reconciliation could be written to do the same --with changes sought by the House. Then if reconciliation is passed and signed by President Barack Obama after he signs the larger bill, the changes made in reconciliation would prevail.

This jives with what Pulse sources were saying soon after the first wave of stories hit – in essence, don’t take the reported parliamentarian’s declaration to the bank.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/3/12/845463/-Update-on-reconciliation

[Clio the Leo]

12. Larry O'Donnel is going to be HEARTBROKEN....

.... but he knows more than everyone else, so I'm sure he'll explain to us why the Parliamentarin is wrong. :)

[City Lights]

14. Thanks for the update.

IMO, yesterday's nooze on this was yet another example of despicable journalism. They took the GOPer aide's interpretation and reported it as Senate Parliamentarian fact. Our corporate media is worthless. I guess it was too hard for even one member of our press corpse to ask the Senate Parliamentarian to confirm what the GOP aide claimed.