If a Gavel Falls in the Senate and No One Hears It...
President Bush's days in power may be coming quickly to an end, but Democrats are taking no chances.
Congress is in recess now, but to block Bush from slipping in a last-minute recess appointment, Senate Democrats continue to hold occasional pro-forma sessions so that they are not technically in recess even though they really are in recess.
At the stroke of 1 p.m. today, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, the lone senator in the chamber, sat in the presiding officer's chair. He banged the gavel.
"The Senate will come to order," he ordered. Nobody objected.
"The clerk will read a communication to the Senate," Casey said in his standard monotone. Again, no objection.
The dutiful clerk read: "Washington, D.C., Novemeber 10, 2008. To the Senate: Under the provision of Rule 1 Paragraph 3 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby appoint the Honorable Robert P. Casey Jr., a senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to perform the duties of the Chair. Signed, Robert C. Byrd, President Pro Tempore."
Thus appointed, Casey got right down to business: "Under the previous order, the Senate stands in recess until Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008, at 3 p.m."
The gavel fell.
Total elapsed time of today's Senate session: Thirty-one seconds.
By Dana Milbank |
November 10, 2008; 1:15 PM ET
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Posted by: poorrichard | November 10, 2008 1:43 PM
Milbank is always worth reading, but I clicked twice on the homepage a headline about Bush pondering his library, only to land here both times.
Don't know who better to notify, if anybody cares to fix it - so Dana's fans don't storm WaPo :)
Posted by: jhbyer | November 10, 2008 3:36 PM
Cute that the Senate has to take attendance taken so that the untrusted Pres won't sneak in appointments. What a mess.
Posted by: LHO39 | November 13, 2008 1:23 PM
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Must be a really slow news day....
Strange as it may sound, this stupidity is really important....with Dick Cheney still pulling the levers behind the curtain. Anyone hear from him lately? That's when he is at his most sinister.
It is hard to imagine Bush vetoing something that Cheney feels the Obama Administration won't do as they would. Hopefully there will be many things. Time will tell.