Why don't the Dems threaten to do a discharge petition? or why not do one!

[KewlKat]

I can't stand this waiting game. The stakes are way to high and with the debt ceiling just around the corner why isn't our minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, threatening to do a discharge petition? She did that in 2012 when they couldn't get things going on the middle class tax bill. Can't she threaten a "discharge petition"? Hell, can't we DO a discharge petition?

I thought that there were enough Republicans that would vote for the CR that the senate passed so maybe they'd sign on to get the discharge petition going?

Here's a youtube of her in 2012 talking about the petition for the middle class tax bill.

[link:http://

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[questionseverything]

1. great idea

...

[lamp_shade]

2. I read somewhere that this can be done only after 30 LEGISLATIVE days of inaction. Keyword:

legislative.

[Common Sense Party]

4. Ugh.

A discharge petition may only be brought after a measure has sat in committee for at least 30 legislative days[4] without being reported; if the matter is considered as a special rule to the Rules Committee, then the period is seven days instead. Once the requisite number of signatures is reached, the petition is placed on the Discharge Calendar, which is privileged business on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.

You're right. How long has a clean bill been sitting there?

[Common Sense Party]

3. I didn't know about this! Thanks for mentioning it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discharge_petition

A discharge petition is a means of bringing a bill out of committee and to the floor for consideration without a report from the committee and usually without cooperation of the leadership. Discharge petitions are most often associated with the U.S. House of Representatives, though many state legislatures have similar procedures. They are used when the chair of a committee refuses to place a bill or resolution on the Committee's agenda; by never reporting a bill, the matter will never leave the committee and the full House will not be able to consider it. A successful petition "discharges" the committee from further consideration of a bill or resolution and brings it directly to the floor. The discharge petition, and the threat of one, gives more power to individual members of the House and usurps a small amount of power from the leadership and committee chairs. The modern discharge petition requires the signature of an absolute majority of House members (218 members). Only twice has it been used successfully on major legislation in recent history.

[Agnosticsherbet]

5. A discharge petition requires a majority of 218 votes to go around the system.

That would require all 200 Democrats, at least 2 of which have back part of all the shut down, plus at least 18 Republicans who must spit in Boner's eye and follow Pelosi.

So I don't think that will happen.

Discharge petitions are very rare because they are extremely difficult to pull off.

[BlueStreak]

6. This is exactly why they DON'T do it

It is intentional to stall this week. Obama wants to tie the CR together with the debt ceiling increase. The last thing he wants to do is let the GOP off the hook for obviously shutting down government over a hissy fit about Obamacare, and then have then come right back the next week with another shutdown that is based on something more Americans agree with (too much Federal debt).

We are really only one week away from the time that the real high stakes game starts. That will probably ramp up starting about Tuesday.

[Tx4obama]

7. Peter King has a plan, below

-snip-

King said there was at least twenty-five legislators who would vote for a so-called “clean continuing resolution”—more than enough for it to pass the House—but that Speaker John Boehner was handcuffed by what King called “Cruz Republicans.”

“We just can’t wait for this to be put on the floor by the speaker,” King said. “We’re going to have to force the action. In some ways maybe that makes the speaker’s job easier. If twenty or twenty-five of us say we’re going to vote no on everything until a continuing resolution is put on the floor, that’s how you get results.”

King said his colleagues agreed with him “that this is insane, that this has to end, but some of them are reluctant to force the action right now. I think we have to force the action. The only difference is a question of timing, that’s all. We all believe it’s absolutely wrong, what’s happening.”

-snip-

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rep-peter-king-on-house-gop-i-honestly-dont-know-what-they-want/

[BlueStreak]

9. Boehner has a different plan

I don't mind seeing the GOP fracture. However, the way this will play out is that the CR will merge together with the debt ceiling, and Obama's leverage goes way up with the debt ceiling talk. Boehner is already talking about a "grand bargain" or some minor variation of that. This can be an opportunity for Obama to get some of the things he has wanted for several years. The Republicans need a way out of the box they have put themselves in. Obama wants to keep them in that box for another week. These diumbasses don't even know they are trapped yet.

[Gothmog]

8. Any republican who signs a discharge petition will be targeted by the teabaggers

Any republican who signs a discharge petition will have a tea party candidate in a primary. Many of the GOP moderates want to avoid this if at all possible. I think that a discharge petition will be practical at some point but only after there has been some significant public outcry

[lancer78]

12. Why don't they pull a Lieberman

or a Murkowski. If I was a moderate republican in a 55-45 republican district I would just run as an independent and tell the "base" to suck it like those 2 did.

[alc]

10. supposedly many republicans are waiting

I've heard 2 today (willing to be on camera) and supposedly many who won't be named. But they need "something" to save face - they'll lose party support in the next primary and need to be more than "one of those congressman who started the shutdown then caved to the dems" and thus hated by everyone (pretty close to what the named congressman said). Hopefully Obama/Reid/Pelosi are talking to them and trying to find a real concession (or bribe for their district) that can allow them to switch votes and survive a primary - the concession doesn't need to be ACA related. A "bogus concession" won't do it so my guess is that this goes on a long time.

[KewlKat]

11. From this news source

I guess they ARE considering a discharge petition now.

http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/breaking-democrats-to-discharge-gop-bill-to-end-shutdown/