1. Tell Congress how they can make a difference in the economic lives of young people - college affordability, health care, jobs, etc.

2. Press Congress to work for an end to global warming and toward a clean energy future!

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
The Center for American Progress
1333 H Street NW, 10th floor
Washington D.C.

In response to a lot of questions I've been getting on exactly what a "Conference Report" or " Motion to recommit with instructions" is, I've decided that I should use my pathetic mastery of CSPAN lingo to educate the masses. Here is a list of parliamentary procedures in the United States Congress, complete with my real definition.

Senate

Filibuster: A chance for Southern conservatives to delay a Civil Rights Bill, or neo-cons to stop an anti-war measure from passing. Although, when you're in the minority, it can be defined as the "Thank ****ing God" rule. Unlike what you see in some movies, and what they tell you in history classes, filibusters don't consist of some old guy reading a phone book for 24 hours anymore. Now, someone will file a "cloture" (see below) motion to cut off debate, which needs 60 votes to pass. Essentially, this means that any controversial legislation in the Senate needs 60 votes, which makes things impossible to enact.

Cloture: The 60 vote threshold needed to end debate. That is why, even though a party may be in the "majority," it has very little power unless it can gather 60 votes. This rule is very nice though when you're in the minority, so we can stop things like the Flag Burning Amendment. 

Motion to proceed to the motion to invoke cloture: Yeah, that really is the name for things people could be voting on.

Tabling: To table a bill or an amendment means to kill it by majority vote. So when Jim DeMint proposes that we take every dollar out of the Federal Government, we can say "shut up."

Motion to Instruct the Sargent-at-arms: This is one of my favorites. A Majority leader can invoke this rare procedure by majority vote, which would require the sargent-at-arms to physically bring people to the chamber. And you think CSPAN is NOT entertaining? 

President Pro Tempore: The Vice President of the United States is constitutionally supposed to preside over the Senate, but he is too busy planning the destruction of the world. Therefore, the duty is given to the President Pro Tempore. This is usually the senior Senator from the majority party, (currently Robert Byrd of West Virginia). However, this guy is usually too frail or lazy to perform the duty himself, so he hands it off to Freshman Senators as a "hazing" ritual. Therefore, freshman in the majority party have to sit and preside over the debate (really they're probably doing crossword puzzles).

Roll Call Vote: Senators, contrary to conventional wisdom, don't all come to the floor for the vote immediately. Usually, the clerk will read all of their names to an empty chamber, and then the Senators will lazily meander to the floor when they are done with their donut. They go up to the desk and announce their vote, before immediately going back to talk with lobbyists about that special project in their state. Therefore, a process that should take a few minutes, takes a freaking half hour.  

House of Representatives

"My good friend, the gentleman from Missouri": That ***hole across the aisle.  

Motion to Recommit with Instructions: Usually, the House Minority can't do anything, because the rule for debating a bill is agreed to by majority vote. They are entitled to a motion to recommit, which is basically a way to add something to the bill that will either alter its meaning completely, or kill it. For example, on a bill to give Voting Rights to DC, Conservatives offered a motion to recommit that would remove DC's handgun bill. Usually these things don't pass, except when some moderates feel like they need to vote for it to save face in their district. 

Speaker of the House: The Speaker of the House usually doesn't preside over the House during normal debates. She's probably too busy eating Ghiradelli Chocolates. Therefore, other House members from the Majority party get the priviledge of shutting people up, and calling on them to speak.

House and Senate:

Conference Committee: Usually, the House and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill. Probably the House's version is more extreme (as the founders intended) and the Senate has served as a cooling saucer. Thus, they must reconcile a bill in "Conference." These conferences consist of members of both parties in proportion to their membership in each chamber. Once they hammer out a compromise, both chambers vote on the final bill, called the "Conference Report." Of course, none of this will happen if one Senator prevents it. (I'm looking at you again, Jim DeMint)

Parliamentary Inquiry: A way to guise a political statement in the form of asking a question about procedure.

Point of Order: Making a point that the rules of the chamber are being broken. The presiding officer will decide if the point is valid (obviously they side with their own party, the majority). The chamber than votes on the ruling of the chair. The majority wins the vote, and members contemplate why they have wasted valuable time. 

I hope this is helpful to those of you who are interested in politics, or are at least interested in a "CSPAN Drinking Game" 

Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, when I foolishly believed that this administration couldn’t do anything to even further neglect, abuse, and pretty much spit on the veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush went and one-upped me with a gem of statement given during a press conference today and covered by ABC News. 

There was a slumber party in the Senate last night complete with stacks of delivery fresh pizza, cots for those who needed some shut-eye, and activities (read: votes) throughout the night.

Senator Durbin even had his interns bring toothpaste, toothbrushes, and deodorant to the Republican leadership with a note saying: "supplies for your sleepless night, and "Help us bring an end to this war."

Okay, so the 110th Congress ROCKS—or so one confused student thinks!  Today, June 20th 2007, the US Senate marked up its, 500 + page version of the, would be Higher Education Access Reconciliation Act of 2007.  After thumbing through, an otherwise boring document, I was excited to see that our lawmakers—this go around—might very well be fighting for students!  The Senate’s HELP Committee or Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is under the leadership of Senator Ted Kennedy. Chairman Kennedy has pledged increased Pell Grant levels, reductions of interest rates on student loans, debt forgiveness, cutting corporate welfare in the financial aid system and much more. 

College cost have grown nearly 40% in the last five years, so as a student I’m all for (1) Strengthening the Middle Class by Making College more Affordable (2) Increasing the Purchasing Power of the Pell Grant Scholarship (3) Ensuring a highly Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom (4) Encouraging and Rewarding Public Services; and lastly, (5) Encouraging Philanthropic Participation ion College Retention and Finance 

However, before us students search for the closest party store in jubilate celebration, we must not forget Budget Reconciliation of 2006 when Congress slashed 12.6 billion out of many student loan programs.

Today the House passed a resolution to give the citizens of the District of Columbia the right to elect a voting member in the House of Representatives.  The bill would also give Utah an additonal at-large House seat, which was denied after the 2000 Census failed to count the several thousand Mormon Missionaries serving abroad.  If it is approved and signed by the President, the bill would for the first time, give Citizens of the Democratic leaning District of Columbia a voting member in Congress, and give Republican leaning Utah an extra seat increasing the size of the House of Representatives from 435 to 437.

The bill was first introduced in March, but Democrats withdrew the bill after an attempt by Republicans to add an amendment which would have lifted a ban on simiautomatic handguns in the District of Columbia.   The bill was re-introduced this week with rules to prevent Republicans from using parliamentary proceedure to hold the bill hostage at gunpoint (figuratively speaking).

After much wrangling and arguing over Constitutional issues centering around Washington D.C.'s status as a federal district rather than a state, the bill passed 241-177.  These Constitutional arguements have some measure of validity.  It is possible that the bill may end up in the Judicial system should it be passed by the Senate and signed by the President.  Its passage in the Senate is uncertain, and already Republican leader Mitch McConnell has stated that he will use the filibuster to block its passage in the Senate.  President Bush meanwhile has stated that if the bill arrives on his desk he will Veto it (along with nearly a dozen other pending bills).