While Bernie Sanders' amendment taxing millionaires to pay for the bailout will be allowed up for a vote tonight, it will ONLY be allowed up for an anonymous voice vote - that is, the unanimous consent agreement allowing the amendment to be voted on requires it to be voted on in a way that allows senators to not take a public position on it. Because of this, the outcome of the "vote" is already decided - it won't pass.
From Open Left. Full text of the Sanders Amendment (the only one being considered in the Senate) here. Ezra Klein responds:
But according to a quick conversation with Sanders' office, that doesn't mean there's no way to tally the vote. The anonymous refers to the congressional record. But the vote is public, and broadcast on C-SPAN. Hypothetically, if anyone wanted to watch it, they could draw up a list of who voted on it, and what their judgment was. I'm sure Sanders office would happily tell those hypothetical good samaritans the exact time when the bill is being considered. And finally, I'm sure that lots of hypothetical bloggers would happily post that hypothetical final list just to bring some slight measure of accountability to the process. You know. Hypothetically.
I love my Senator...
No comments:
Post a Comment