Subject: Update: Discharge Petition to Open the Government On Friday, Reps. Van Hollen, Miller, and Lowey introduced a resolution (H.RES. 372) that would allow an up or down vote on a clean government funding bill through Nov. 15 at the House- and Senate-approved spending levels. After seven legislative days of inaction, it will “ripen” and be eligible for a discharge petition. More information on the Open the Government resolution. The first choice should be an immediate vote to reopen the government. The American people shouldn’t have to wait any longer. Speaker Boehner can schedule a vote today and a bill to open the government would gain the support of the majority of members of Congress. THIS WEEK: Getting 218 Signatures on Discharge Petition Will Force House Action to Reopen the Federal Government As Early as Saturday. If the House continues to be in session through this weekend, Saturday will be the first day members can sign onto the discharge petition to end the government shutdown. Getting the support of 218 members of Congress would force the Republican leadership’s hands. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service’s exhaustive study of discharge petitions concluded this: “In practice, when a discharge petition obtains its 218 signatures and is entered on the discharge calendar, the result almost guarantees the supporters will have an opportunity to bring the measure to the floor.” Read more below on the history of the discharge petition. A growing number of House Republicans are looking for a way forward out of this mess. This discharge petition will allow these members the opportunity to support an up or down vote on a clean continuing resolution. (Huffington Post’s list. Washington Post’s list). The Republican leadership must not block or delay consideration of H.RES 372 or its discharge petition. Amending the resolution referred to the Rules Committee, refusing to convene the House on discharge days, or using other parliamentary maneuvers to interfere with the process for reopening the government would undermine the will of the majority of House members. Democrats have offered concessions to move the process forward. Last week, Leader Pelosi urged Republican leadership to allow an immediate vote on the Senate CR – which funds the government at Republican spending levels – and to appoint conferees on the budget, and promised to have Democrats abstain from making motions to instruct conferees once a budget conference committee is appointed. Key Findings in the Congressional Research Study on Discharge Petitions Discharge petitions reaching 218 signatures have successfully forced action on the underlying policy, even if discharge petition process does not complete every step. “The success of a discharge effort can be assessed in various ways. The simplest measure is whether the petition attains the 218 signatures requisite to permit supporters to offer the discharge motion (known as “entering the motion on the discharge calendar”).” (page 10) “In practice, when a discharge petition obtains its 218 signatures and is entered on the discharge calendar, the result almost guarantees that supporters will have an opportunity to bring the measure to the floor. Sometimes, however, the action that occurs at this point is not pursuant to the discharge rule itself, but under other procedures. Action of this kind presumably represents an attempt by the committee of jurisdiction, the leadership, or the Committee on Rules to recover control of the floor by taking action to preempt the opportunity that the discharge rule affords.” (page 14) “Yet every measure that has reached the floor under other procedures after a discharge petition was entered has been passed by the House and gone on to final approval, except proposed constitutional amendments (the Balanced Budget Amendment in the 97th and 101st Congresses).” (page 14) Discharge petitions of the form that Democrats have proposed are twice as more likely to succeed. “Increasingly often in recent years, the Committee on Rules has responded to discharge efforts by reporting its own special rules for considering the measures involved. It often does so even when the petition is not completed, especially for petitions filed on special rules, rather than on the measures themselves. Since 1967, measures on which this form of petition was filed have had over twice as much chance of reaching the floor, especially under alternative procedures, as when the petition was filed on the measure itself.” (Summary Page)
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:42:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015