Bah humbug?
Everyone knows the health care bill will pass with 60 votes. Weary senators who have worked weekends and late nights for weeks have locked in their support and are ready to say yay or nay.
The official schedule has the Senate bill slated for a final vote at 7 a.m., the first Christmas Eve vote since 1895.
But several senators have said they’d prefer to have it earlier so they could travel to their home states for the holiday.
Today in an example of the arcane Senate procedure, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) attempted to move the vote earlier and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) objected.
“There’s really no reason to hold over the vote,” Harkin said.
Vitter disagreed.
The Democratic National Committee provided this handy transcript, quick to portray the GOP as the grinch.
They left out what happened right after, when Sen. James Risch attempted to move the vote away from the holiday entirely. He asked for Christmas Eve off and that the voted by moved to Jan. 20. The Democrats objected to that one.
SEN. HARKIN (D-Iowa): So Mr. President, I know one senator whose family is with their in-laws – their husband’s from England and their kids are over there – can’t make it for Christmas dinner tomorrow night. I know other person who has to get out to the west because – and there’s a lot of storms out there – if they can get that early flight, they can make two legs and get home. If they have to go later in the day, they have to do three legs and they may not make it. There’s a lot of people around here that are having a lot of problems with that. We’re all here. There’s no — really no reason to hold over the vote. So I’m going to ask unanimous consent that the vote on the passage of the bill and the — and the vote on the debt limit bill — occur at 6pm this evening.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Is there objection?
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): Mr. President?
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Senator Vitter.
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): That request has not been cleared on this side, so on behalf of my colleagues, I will object. And if the senator would like to talk to all of his colleagues about it, that would be fine. But in the meantime, I would object.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Objection is heard.
SEN. HARKIN (D-Iowa): Mr. President, then I would further ask unanimous consent that the votes that are going to occur at 7am tomorrow occur at 12:15am in the morning.
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): Mr. President?
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Is there objection?
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): Mr. President, my response would be the same and I would object in the same vain.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Objection is heard.
SEN. HARKIN (D-Iowa): Well I just want people to know who’s keeping us here.
