DeMint to Block All Senate Bills After Tuesday
Ezra Klein reports:
What is Sen. Jim DeMint doing?
Senate staffers I spoke to weren't exactly sure -- but whatever it is, they're really not happy about it. "This is really, really, really, really, really, really bad," one said. "In a precedent-setting institution like the U.S. Senate, letting one person anoint themselves king is not a good idea."
DeMint's method of anointment is relatively banal. Non-controversial legislation in the U.S. Senate gets "hotlined." That means it goes out on an internal messaging system to see if anyone has an objection. If no one does, the legislation is often passed using unanimous consent, and without any floor debate. That's done so the Senate doesn't waste a lot of time on things like post offices or -- to use an example that got hotlined recently --the Longline Catcher Processor Subsector Single Fishery Cooperative Act.
As the Senate approaches the end of a session, these non-controversial bills build up and often get passed in a rush at the end. And that's where we are now: The Senate is expected to adjourn either Wednesday or Thursday, and most expected a few non-controversial bills to pass during those final hours. But DeMint is saying he'll block any bills that aren't hotlined by this evening -- a position, according to his office, that the Republican leadership was notified of last week. Anything less than 48 hours, he says, simply doesn't give him and his staff time to review the legislation. If the bill -- and, in some cases, its CBO score -- isn't delivered by tonight, it'll have to wait until the lame-duck session.
It's not a crazy request. Sens. Tom Coburn and Claire McCaskill, in fact, have tried to make it a rule of the Senate with their Stop Secret Spending Resolution. DeMint supports their effort.
What's riled so many in the chamber, however, is that DeMint is turning that preference into a demand.
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