◼ Nation agog as US Senate actually … works on Saturday -= Jazz Shaw/HotAir
The original plan looked fairly simple. After much wrath and acrimony, the cromnibus passed the House and moved on to the upper chamber. In order to comply with Senate rules, a five day spending extension would provide a bit more time to get business done and the vote would be held over until Monday. At that time, several people who love having face time with the cameras would make some impassioned speeches, some amendments would be demanded (and fail to pass or even get a vote) and the bill would be passed. The Senators would be able to take the weekend off, put in a few hours on Monday and then head home for the holidays, secure in the knowledge that the government would be funded for an extended period and everyone could work on wrapping their Christmas gifts.◼ Senate averts shutdown fears; Democrats rush to confirm nominees - Deseret News/Utah
Well, the best laid plans of mice and men…
But in a surprise development, some of McConnell’s junior members defied the agreement after he left....
Their power ebbing, Senate Democrats launched a last-minute drive Saturday to confirm roughly 20 of President Barack Obama's nominees, and several Republicans blamed tea party-backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for creating an opening for the outgoing majority party to exploit.◼ CRUZ, LEE WIN WAR WITH HARRY REID, FORCE VOTE AGAINST EXECUTIVE AMNESTY - Matthew Boyle/Breitbart
Lawmakers took a break in their intrigue long enough to send Obama legislation that provides funds for the government to remain open until Wednesday at midnight, easing concerns of a shutdown. A separate, $1.1 trillion long-term funding bill remained in limbo.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is keeping senators in Washington for a rare Saturday session—and risking a government shutdown—after he went to extraordinary lengths to block Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) from forcing a vote to block President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty.◼ If Cruz And Lee Don't Trust McConnell or Boehner, Why Should We? - Dan Riehl/Breitbart InstaBlog,
What happened on Friday night is a series of procedural tactics that Cruz and Lee engaged in with Reid. Cruz tried to force a constitutional point of order—which requires a 51-vote threshold—to challenge the constitutionality of Obama’s executive amnesty. Meanwhile, Lee was pushing an amendment to the cromnibus spending bill that just passed the House that would have blocked funding for Obama’s executive amnesty implementation.
Using parliamentary tricks, Reid blocked both Cruz’s and Lee’s measures, then sought unanimous consent to adjourn the Senate until Monday—at which time Senators would have been brought back in for passage for the cromnibus. But in consultation with Cruz, Lee objected to unanimous consent to adjourn the Senate until Monday unless Reid would allow a vote on the effort to block funding for Obama’s executive amnesty. Because Reid wouldn’t agree to allow the vote, he decided to keep Senators in Washington for the weekend.
Because Reid needs to, per Senate rules, fill the timeframe until senators can actually vote on cloture on the cromnibus bill—which they can first technically do at 1 AM early Sunday morning—Reid is now attempting to force through several controversial Obama nominees like NRA-opposed surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy, Deputy Secretary of State nominee Tony Blinken, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director nominee Sarah Saldana....
