It’s no secret that Democrats are doing all they can to ram their health care bill through the Senate. The Obama administration has invested a ton of political capital, in a promise to reform health care by year’s end. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the pressure is on for members of the President’s party. Harry Reid has repeatedly stated his plan to vote on health care by Christmas. The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Majority Leader will likely meet his deadline, as the Senate is set for a final vote on Christmas Eve. Perhaps that’s why Senate Democrats seem so pressed for time…
Many Junior Senators within the majority party are asked to spend time in the seat of the President of the Senate. The reason for this is so that they learn the parliamentary procedure by “directing traffic” for a little while. Yesterday, as Junior Senators, Al Franken of Minnesota and Mark Begich of Alaska were asked to preside over a health care debate on the Senate floor. If you’ve never watched this sort of thing before, it’s quite interesting. Basically, different Senators speak to their colleagues about a bill. They stand before their peers and present a case for or against it. However, they are only allotted a certain amount of time. If they accidentally wrote a speech that is too long or have a few more things to say, they must request more time from whoever is in the seat of the President, i.e. Franken and Begich.
The first incident took place when John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, went over his time allotted by Senate rules. When his time was up, Cornyn requested an additional two minutes, for a few more remarks. Begich denied his request by saying “In my capacity as a Senator from Alaska, I object.” So respectfully, Cornyn stepped down from the podium. However, a few seconds later, Cornyn upped the ante by approaching the podium again, this time requesting an additional five minutes. Begich again said “no,” which greatly upset Cornyn. Cornyn then accused Begich of trying to hamper debate on an “important bill.” Cornyn then pointed out the obvious by stating that no other Senator was waiting to speak. At that point, Begich conceded and gave him the additional five minutes. Here is the video:
The second incident occurred when Joseph Lieberman, the Independent Democrat from Connecticut, went over his time allotted. Senator Lieberman proceeded to request an additional minute from Al Franken. That’s all! 60 seconds! Senator Franken responded with a page from the Begich playbook by saying “In my capacity as a Senator from Minnesota, I object.” Lieberman looked absolutely astonished and said “Really?” Here is the video:
This may sound boring to YSP readers who don’t typically watch C-SPAN, let alone C-SPAN 2. However, this is incredibly rare. When was the last time you saw a politician who wasn’t long-winded? The truth is: these guys love to hear themselves talk. Out of mutual respect, they usually let each other blather on and on, regardless of party affiliation.
My guess is that yesterday, Begich and Franken were under strict orders from Harry Reid not to let anyone go over on time. If the Democrats are going to ram their P.O.S. health care bill through the Senate by Christmas, they have to contain the debate and be VERY mindful of time. For putting their political ambitions above the American People, by rushing through the legislative process with little debate, The American Democratic Senator is the D-Bag of the Week! That includes all of them. From Reid, all the way down to freshmen like Franken and Begich.