Minimum Wage Debate
I just sent my representative an e-mail thanking him and telling him I was proud to have him as my representative. My representative, up in the Scranton area where I still vote, is Congressman Paul Kanjorski. He is one of 5 Pennsylvanians who voted for House Resolution 614. If a majority of members (218) sign, a debate on the
Fair Minimum Wage Act will be forced.
Is it just me or is it weird that they have to vote to have a debate? I bet in England, Parliament just gets drunk and starts debating topics without voting on whether or not to debate them. Does anyone know?
posted by John E. at
16:30
1 Comments:
It's all about bylaws. The US House meets as either the House or the Committee of the Whole depending on which set of bylaws are to be followed and what business exactly is happening. And on top of all this there is the Rules Committee that comes up with whatever flipping guidelines of debate and passage they want for any particular bill. All of this leads to things like voting on whether to add amendments, voting on amendments, voting to refer the bill back to the committees, and other such before even voting on passage of the bill itself.
My knowledge of the British parliament coems almost exclusively from Chesterton's The Flying Inn where, if I'm remembering correctly, everyone who doesn't want to debate sits around drinking until it's time to vote. I'm sure they have bylaws that are more confusing than ours, simply given that the Parliament has been around longer. That probably includes things like "On Tuesdays a quorum of 6 members is required to vote on such matters as the following..."
By
Nate, at Wed Mar 22, 04:09:00 AM GMT
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