Obama Vote-a-rama

by Tevi Troy  •  Sep 25, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Cross-posted from National Review Online: Critical Condition

http://www.tevitroy.org/2009/09/obama-vote-a-rama

Slate has a helpful primer on how senators actually make it through 500+ amendments. The short answer is, they don't, as most never actually make it to a vote.

My friend Keith Hennessey, while working on Senate Budget Resolution amendment marathons, came up with the term vote-a-rama for this process. In the vote-a-rama, senators serially vote on, withdraw, negotiate away, merge, or otherwise dispose of a seemingly unmanageable number of amendments. Although Keith may be a purist and say vote-a-rama can only apply to Budget Resolutions — and I expect to hear from him one way or the other on this — it seems an apt description of the process that will start up again on Tuesday.

receive the latest by email: subscribe to tevi troy's free mailing list