I hope this will be a simple question. Hopefully I can get the answer before this thread devolves to a political one. I am just interested in the mechanics of Senate voting.
As majority leader can Sen. McConnell stop a motion from coming to the floor for a vote? Specifically if a motion of disapproval to Trump’s declaration of emergency is made in the Senate, can the majority leader, without a majority vote of the senate, keep the motion from being voted on? Let us assume that there is a majority but not 60 votes in favor of the motion.
The only remedy I can think of is to impeach the VP. As the presiding officer of the senate, he is required to enforce the rules. In this case one of the rules (explicit in the law concerning the override of a presidential declaration of a state of emergency) is that 18 day rule. If the presiding officer fails to obey the rules, I do not see what could force him to. Hence my answer.
FWIW (and I apologize for expressing this in GQ), I really doubt it would come to that.
The same question could be raised were the house to impeach the president and the senate fails to hold a trial.
Even if he can’t stop that specific vote, there are still plenty of other votes he can stop. Recently, for instance, he stopped votes on the budget bills the House was attempting to stop the shutdown.
Yes, he can even prevent a hearing on a Supreme Court nomination.
Regarding the specific vote, he can’t stop it. But I don’t see how anyone can prevent him from stopping it. Constitutional norms have eroded a bit, I’d say.
Thanks.
I didn’t realize the congressional action is in the form of a resolution and is privileged. I am actually surprised that the President can veto a congressional resolution. Is that always the case? Bills I understand. Perhaps I don’t yet understand the significant differences between a resolution and a bill.
However, my question has been answered. I appreciate the prompt response.
Unlike other scheduling matters, there is no real way to stop a motion to move to a privileged matter like this kind of disapporval resolution. Any member can move to take it up if they are recognized to give a speech. Once it is the pending business, it must be disposed of.
This is unlike the vast, vast majority of legislative matters that come before the Senate, in which the Majority Leader has an iron grip on what gets voted on and when.
Depends on the type of resolution. Joint resolutions have the force of law and must be enacted in the same manner. Concurrent resolutions are non-binding as they are not presented to the President, even when both houses of Congress approve them.
Legally there is really no difference between a bill and a joint resolution. A concurrent resolution is a thing voted upon by both chambers of Congress and does not require the president’s approval. But a concurrent resolution can’t make law.
Say a Senator stands up and says “Hey, I call for a vote on the resolution.” McConnell says, “Nah, we’re not going to do that.” What does “It must be disposed of” mean then?
Each chamber of Congress is entitled to make its own rules and each is the sole arbiter of its own rules. If a chamber leader were actually to be so intransigent to ignore the rules they could see their leadership challenged. Ultimately, if enough Senators decide they’re going to vote on something, they’re going to vote on it. It’s not like McConnell can duct tape them to their chairs.
I investigated the kinds of congressional resolutions. Now I think I understand this part of the process. There are 3 kinds of congressional resolution:
simple resolution - passed by one chamber and do not have the force of law
concurrent resolution - passed by both chambers and do not have the force of law
joint resolution - passed by both chambers and do have the force of law after signature by the President. There is very little difference between a bill and a joint resolution.
You’re more optimistic than I am. I doubt very much there are enough Senate republicans who want to go on record voting for or against this thing to challenge McConnell. I hope I’m wrong.
McConnell has no ability to object to such a motion. Upon receiving the motion, the presiding officer must call up the resolution, in the same way that the presiding officer is bound to carry out all other motions made that are in order. That’s the power of a privileged motion.
I get it. Perhaps we’re talking past each other, though. Suppose McConnell tells the presiding officer, “don’t call a vote on this. In fact, send everyone home for the day. We’re closed for business. Sorry”
I get that he “can’t” do that, per the rules. My question is, what’s going to stop him?
The same thing that stops McConnell from simply declaring an Obamacare repeal bill passed without there ever having been a vote on it. Nobody in Congress gets arrested if they just decide we aren’t a constitutional republic anymore.
If I understand the rules correctly, if the Vice President isn’t around, the President Pro Tempore or someone assigned by the President Pro Tempore is responsible for presiding over the Senate. The President Pro Tempore is elected by the Senate, so in theory the Majority Leader has no authority over him.
The current PPT is Chuck Grassley of Iowa. You may recall that just last week, Grassley became snippy with McConnell when Mitch tried to interrupt him while Chuck was speaking on the Senate floor.
One might infer that Grassley can be a stickler when it comes to the rules of the Senate. Or at the very least, that Grassley isn’t especially intimidated by McConnell.
So the factual answer to “who can stop McConnell?” is “Chuck Grassley.”