Matthew Boyle
Breitbart.com
Big Government
13 Dec 2014
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.
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…
…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.
The nominees—like Murthy—who have a hold placed on them still need to clear a 60-vote threshold to be confirmed, which means five Republicans would need to enable any nominee assuming all the Democrats vote for each one. So it doesn’t mean Reid will be able to succeed on them anyway…
Read the complete article at Big Government.
Related: If Cruz And Lee Don’t Trust McConnell or Boehner, Why Should We?
Senate objections to spending bill slowing, but shouldn’t stop, final passage
…“Every senator in this body should be put on record whether he or she believes it is constitutional for a president to disregard, to ignore federal immigration laws, and to grant blanket amnesty to millions in defiance of both the laws on the books and the voters,” Cruz said in a senate floor speech…
Sen. Rand Paul: I Will Vote ‘No’ on Budget Bill
Sen. Rand Paul said on Friday that he would not support the $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by the House to keep the federal government running because the measure was too long and was being rushed into passage.
“It’s an indictment of the whole process,” the Kentucky Republican told Sean Hannity on his Fox News program. “We’ve got a 2,500-page bill.
“No one will have a chance to read this bill, much less have it printed in time for everyone to read,” Paul said. “And it’s a crummy way to run your government because the bill’s 2,500 pages long…
Senate reaches deal on $1.1 trillion spending bill (video)
DEVELOPING: Democrats and Republicans in the Senate reached a deal late Saturday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill that would fund the government through next September and avert a partial government shutdown.
The deal cleared the way for a final vote on the bill Saturday night. The next legislative step is to vote on cloture to halt debate on the bill, which requires 60 votes.
If the number is reached, then it is expected that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will make a point of order against the bill, focusing on immigration. The point of order only requires a simple majority…
Update: Matt Drudge says spending bill passed because NSA has ‘dirt’ on John Boehner
…”Obama got EVERYTHING,” Drudge tweeted Friday. “NSA dirt on Boehner must be incredible. Chicago wins.”…
