The Feld-Blog

To all of you who think ‘politics’ (in its dirtiest sense) should be stripped out of policy making – To those who think Presidents and Senators and Members of Congress should replace their political advisors with more policy experts, take a good look at the final session of the Senate before it adjourned. The Senate voted to extend the Patriot act for 5 weeks for further consideration, but they did it with only one Senator even present in the Senate Chambers.

Education: (Skip this if you already understand Senate Rules)

The Senate requires a quorum (a minimum number of Senators present in the chamber) to conduct business. Though a quorum is rarely actually present, any member of the Senate can make a “point of order that quorum is not present” – essentially saying that what it happening is not allowed by Senate rules and the Senate must wait until a quorum arrives to actually do whatever it is they are trying to do. Usually this occurs for votes. The Senate’s President Pro Tempore (or the appointed stand in) will call for a voice vote and declare who he thinks to be the winner (usually whatever position he himself holds). Because there is almost always someone who disagrees, someone will call for a recorded vote and ask that quorum be present for that vote. In this way, the minority party can make sure that their votes are counted and that the Pro Tempore can’t merely say he thinks his party wins every vote.

Something went wrong though on December 22rd. The acting Pro Tempore, Senator John Warner, gaveled the Senate open just long enough to call for a voice vote on the one month extension of the Patriot Act that Senator James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, released to the floor to be voted on. Warner called for a voice vote, voted in favor, and since no other senators were in the chamber to claim a point of order, the motion passed just as if a majority of Senators had actually voted for the bill.

If opponents of the Patriot Act really wanted to shove this bill in the dirt and bury it forever, they would have needed someone in the Senate Chamber on the 22nd. Anyone, citizen or Senator, could easily have missed this. Political Advisors are the ones most likely to have caught such a devious scheme. It is also true that President Bush threatened to call a special session of Congress (it would have been the first since 1922) if the Senate allowed the Patriot Act to fizzle as its expiration date passed.

Good policy ideas don’t matter if you can’t get them passed and good policy sense doesn’t make any difference if you can’t implement it in Congress. You need to know the tricks of the trade. It’s a skill set and a knowledge base as broad and as intricate as any policy area. So why not dedicate a staff position or two to expertise in the art of politics. It might not be the prettiest job, but if last week is any indication, it’s certainly an important one.