Senator Paul objects to Graham consent to vote on the CR at 8pm, again; and Tillis request to vote at 9pm
Senator Graham asked the same
unanimous consent request again –to vote on cloture at 8pm—and Senator Paul
objected.
Senator Paul made some remarks, and said “I
WILL CONTINUE TO ADVOCATE THAT IF THEY WANT TO VOTE EARLIER,
THEY CAN VOTE EARLIER AS LONG AS I GET A VOTE ON AN AMENDMENT
WHERE WE WILL HAVE AN OPEN DEBATE AND AN EXPLICIT VOTE THAT
SAYS ARE YOU FOR OR AGAINST BREAKING THE SPENDING CAPS THAT WE
Then Senator Tillis asked
unanimous consent to vote on cloture at 9pm and that if cloture is invoked, all
post-cloture time be yielded back, and the Senate vote on the motion to concur,
with an amendment (CR/caps).
Again, Senator Paul objected.
The time of the cloture vote
is still uncertain.
Under the rules, the cloture
vote would occur one hour after the Senate convenes tomorrow. The filing
deadline for second degree amendments is 1 hour prior to the cloture vote, if
cloture is invoked (60-vote threshold).
When the cloture vote occurs
depends on Senator Paul and how the night goes. There could be an effort to
adjourn at midnight and vote on cloture at 1am. We could vote earlier by
consent or depending on how things go, even later than 1:00am.
If cloture is invoked, the
motion to refer would fall post-cloture and there would be up to 30 hours of
post-cloture debate, with each senator permitted to speak for 1 hour each. Upon
the use or yielding back of time, the Senate would dispose of any pending
amendments. If a budget point of order is raised and a motion to waive made, we
would dispose of any pending motions (60-vote threshold to waive). Then we
would vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate
amendment to H.R.1892, with a further amendment (passage of CR/caps). If the
motion is agreed to, the bill would be sent back to the House for
consideration.
