Business As Usual

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday afternoon withdrew his proposal to create a single-payer insurance system after Republicans compelled Senate clerks to spend hours reading his 767-page amendment to the health care bill as a way to slow down work on the legislation. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) forced clerks to begin reading the amendment in the Republicans’ first attempt at stalling the health care bill.

How Sanders was able to withdraw his amendment is unclear — under the chamber’s rules it appears that a motion to withdraw would not be in order during the reading of the bill. However, the Senate Parliamentarian — in what a GOP aide called “an incredibly bizarre decision” — ruled Sanders’ request was allowable.

Coburn, who originally forced the reading of the amendment, attempted to call for the “regular order,” which would be the reading of the amendment. However, the presiding officer recognized Sanders long enough for him to withdraw, saying it was within the Senator’s rights to do so.

The rules don't apply to Democrats, only Republicans. If the people in this country would get their faces out of their TV sets and pay attention to some of this, perhaps there would be enough outrage to stop this. The tea party movement has been great, but we need more people to stand up and be heard. The Democrats are going to ruin this country if they are not stopped.