Ah, the arcane proceedings of government. Yesterday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) threatened to hold a midnight vote to speed up bringing to the floor a final vote on pending unemployment extension legislation. On Tuesday the Senate passed a vote for cloture to proceed, which passed easily. However, there were amendments still in debate. In order to move forward without agreements on the amendments, it would be necessary to hold a roll call vote to proceed; the earliest this could have been done, according to Senate rules, is 30 hours after the cloture vote - that is to say, shortly after midnight this morning.
Reid didn't have to make good on his threat, and the procedural vote itself might not have to happen. Apparently Reid's office said that party leaders should be able to make agreements on the pending amendments to move the bill directly to a final floor vote, which is music to the ears of thousands and thousands of unemployed Americans in dire straits right now. A federal unemployment benefits extension is, one would think, one of the most easy and simple things for this Congress to enact.
Source gather.com/
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