Why are they waiting until after dinner to vote?

[apples and oranges]

Why can't they get it done NOW?!

[Swede Atlanta]

1. Because the cook at the congressional messhall

needs some time to cook up a mess of 'crow' for the pukes while the democrats dine on steak and lobster!!!

[Roland99]

13. +1

[jsr]

2. Pigs like to eat first

[Mass]

3. Whom? House or Senate.

[HappyMe]

8. The Senate is taking it up first.

Then to the House.

[B Calm]

4. They want to make sure they are good and drunk.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Maybe to run out the clock on the House...

...to make it impossible for the House to make a revision to the Senate Bill and still return it in time for the Senate to be the ones who have no time left to do anything other than accept the revision or have the nation go into default.

[Warpy]

6. Red meat to the witless

My guess is that they won't pass it until late tonight.

First they'll send one with a lot of poison pill riders that Obama will veto.

Eventually they'll get around to sending one he'll sign.

[SamYeager]

7. They can't do anythign without the drama.

It's a hallmark of the Boehner speakership.

[robinlynne]

10. Senate hasn't even begun to consider voting.

[robinlynne]

9. They are too busy having a party about just how wonderful they all are.

[monmouth3]

11. Reminds me of the Oscars. Glorification to our group..Ugh...n/t

[apples and oranges]

12. Don't they watch horror movies?

Don't relax until the monster is completely incapacitated! I don't trust the teabaggers and we shouldn't give them hours and hours to change their minds.

[PoliticAverse]

14. The Senators all have to finish praising themselves over the great job that they did.

That along with lots of hand wringing can take some time.

[Buns_of_Fire]

15. They still have to congratulate themselves for a few more hours.

...for doing their damned JOBS that they're getting overpaid for.

[onenote]

16. In part because it will take some time to actually put the deal into legislative language

Typically legislative negotiations are not conducted by exchanging formal legislative language; rather it ususally involves exchanging descriptions of the proposed results. Turning those results into legislative language and having it reviewed carefully by leadership (or more precisely leadership's senior staff) will take several hours.

[hootinholler]

17. And another review to be sure no one slipped anything in there.

It takes time to dot 'i's and 't's.

[PoliticAverse]

18. Yes, I suspect they haven't finished writing yet. n/t

[CK_John]

19. After the local evening news dump or maybe Boner is still short of the votes.

[PoliticAverse]

20. Boehner only needs 17 votes, he's likely working on cooling tempers over there

so he isn't challenged as speaker. But as DUer onenote pointed out in this thread it does take some time to
put an agreement into actual bill form and that is probably what is going on behind the scenes right now.

[BluegrassStateBlues]

21. Because the 17th has always been an arbitrary date. A couple of hours won't matter now. nt

[ieoeja]

22. (First) Whipping votes. (Second) They hope to have a smaller audience after evening news.

They'd rather their surrender be unwatched. And this maximizes the time they have to poll the Teabagger rank and file and prepare their talking points.

Had they voted on this morning, they'd have been facing the press all day. After dinner they will have "gone home for the night".

Better yet, their office may get to respond, "Congress is in recess. The Congressman will be available for comments after the recess." The Sunday morning talkers will have til then to get their talking points in place. And the Sunday afternoon polls will let them adjust those points for the remainder of House Republicans.