Thursday, July 28, 2011

UPDATE: Senate expected to reject House debt ceiling bill tonight, provided it makes it to the Senate

Even if Boehner is able to round up enough Republican votes to pass his debt ceiling/deficit bill in the House (See my previous post), the bill is DOA in the Senate.

The Senate will take up the bill tonight if it passes the House.  58 Senators are on record as saying they will vote NO.  Reid plans to quickly dispose of the Boehner bill.  Brian Beutler at Talking Points Memo explains how:

[To] expedite the process, and to prove as swiftly as possible that Boehner's plan is DOA in the Senate, Reid will move to table the bill. All Democrats will vote to table the legislation, Reid has said, and then it's on to the next step. 

Talking Points Memo on Facebook

In Senate-ese, from a leadership source: "As soon as the Senate receives the House Message (Boehner bill), a motion to concur with the House Message is made. The Leader moves to table the motion to concur (majority vote threshold). The Boehner plan is defeated in the Senate."

In this scenario, a "yes" vote is actually a vote to defeat the Boehner bill.
Putting it more starkly, Reid's spokesman, Adam Jentleson,tweeted, "Boehner's bill dies tonight. Forever.


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