Today in Congress/Open Thread

post from Daily Kos on 03 October 2008 10:36:24 AM. © Daily Kos

In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:

FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008

House meets at 9:00 a.m. for Legislative Business
Five "One Minutes" Per Side
Last Vote Predicted: 3:00 p.m.

Senate Amendments to H.R. 1424 - Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Rep. Frank – Financial Services/ Ways and Means) (Subject to a Rule)

H.Res. 1526 – Same Day Consideration and Suspension Authority Rule – Providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules and waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules (Rep. Slaughter – Rules)

Suspension Bill (1 Bill):
1) H.R. 6867 - The Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008 (Rep. McDermott – Ways and Means)

Pending Suspension Vote (1 Bill):
1) S. 3197 - National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act of 2008 (Sen. Durbin - Judiciary)

No Senate session today, either. They're in recess with no plans to come back, except for pro forma sessions (probably to keep the Pretzeldent from making any recess appointments) through mid-November, though they reserved the right to come back if something goes wrong with the bailout package in the House.

That means the Senate has successfully stuck the House with their version of the package and skipped town, just like they did with their FISA amendments in August of 2007. (And you thought FISA was just about FISA, and would go away!)

Note that they're going to have to pass yet another same-day consideration rule (not to mention adding a clause to allow yet more Friday consideration of suspensions). I bring that up not because it's all that unusual, especially at the end of a session, but rather because I'm reminded that one of the more interesting reform efforts aimed at increasing transparency in the Congress is a rules change that would require that all bills be posted on the Internet for public inspection for three days before a vote is allowed. But today's vote will show just how easily disposed of such a rule might really be. Makes campaigning for transparency just that much more difficult, you know?

Early indications are that enough Members are thinking about changing their votes to make a difference, but there are at least a few Blue Dogs who might be upset enough that the tax provisions added in the Senate aren't paid for under PAYGO rules. But the Blue Dog caucus may end up as fractured on this bill as the party caucuses were. The counting will have to be done carefully. Then again, I'm sure the leadership has no intention of adjourning until some damn thing is passed on this. If this version of the package fails tomorrow, nobody's going to care much what that something is, just so long as it happens and happens fast.

Oh, by the way, the bill has grown a bit over the past few days, as you might have guessed. From the three page ransom note originally sent over by Paulson, to the 110 page House bill that failed on Monday, to a 440 pager adopted by the Senate on Wednesday.