Pro Forma

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Working up the schedule for the week ahead, we’re surprised to see that the U.S. Senate is convening at 2 p.m. today in a pro forma session. A Saturday session…

The Senate leadership has held these twice weekly sessions to prevent President Bush from making any recess appointments, a legislative practice and loss of executive branch authority the President chose not to challenge by making such an appointment. (The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank briefly addressed the issue in a blog post in early November.)

We’re curious to see what happens once President Obama is sworn in. Will the pro forma sessions continue as a demonstration of Senatorial authority, or will they be shelved as no longer necessary given the shared partisan control of the executive and legislative branches?

Seems like a good subject for a dispassionate journalistic inquiry.


Posted @ 12:11 pm | Category: General | Author: Carter Wood | Tags: , | No Comments

Today in the U.S Senate, an Informal Pro Forma

Friday, August 8, 2008

A mild amusement of ours, very mild, is to watch the pro forma sessions of the U.S. Senate to see how quickly they can be dispensed with. These are the sessions the Majority Leader has scheduled every third day to prevent the President from making recess appointments. They’ve attracted media attention in the past (here and here, for example) because of the parliamentary maneuver and the brevity of the sessions. We missed Tuesday’s session, presided over by Sen. Jack Reed, by judging by the Daily Digest, pretty brief.

Today, 24 seconds. Very expeditious.

But who was that presiding? We thought we recognized all the women Democratic Senators. Who is that? Sen. Blanche Lincoln?

No, it turns out the Senate was presided over by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson. So apparently you don’t have to have a U.S. Senator presiding to convene the Senate. Who knew? Wonder why the Majority just doesn’t sub Secretary Erickson in all the time.

…..

Sen. Reed’s appointment accompanied the reading of this statement (Page S8081):

To the Senate:
President pro tempore.

Under the provisions of rule I, section 3, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby appoint the Honorable JACK REED, a Senator from the State of Rhode Island, to perform the duties of the Chair.

ROBERT C. BYRD
President pro tempore

And here’s the Standing Rule the statement refers to. (See below.) Yes, it does say the Secretary of the Senate can be appointed to preside, but as we read it, only in the “absence of the Vice President, and pending the election of a President pro tempore.”

Anyway, just one of those interesting subtleties of the legislative process…

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Posted @ 12:44 pm | Category: Miscellaneous | Author: Carter Wood | Tags: , , | No Comments

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