Joe Pickett: “I’m thinking of buying an island. Maybe the speaker pro tem can sell me one.”
Rob Eissler: “No man is an Eiland.”
Speaker Pro Tem Craig Eiland: “Sorry?”
Eissler: “Just seeing if the speaker pro tem is listening.”
Much as everyone loves the stand-up comedy routine from the mikes, the House floor is still knee-deep in chub, and Democrats say the decision to put Senate Bill 362, the voter ID bill, on Saturday’s calendar is to blame. Decrying the decision, House Democratic Caucus Leader Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, said, “We have to do voter suppression before we take up fiscal matters.”
Dunnam’s proposing a simple way to keep voter ID off the agenda but still move forward with constructive lawmaking: Suspend the rules on a bill-by-bill basis, to allow the House to take up the significant bills. “The Senate operates like this every day,” he said. “Suspend the two-thirds rule, bring bills up out of order […] there’s no reason the House must come to gridlock.”
While the fringe right tweets outrage about the Democrats’ actions, Dunnam argued they’re missing the point. “We’re not being obstructionist,” he said. “We’re not killing bills, we’re not breaking quorum, But we are trying to get the House’s priorities back in order.”
There are, he argues, no shortage of pressing issues that won’t fracture the House and have a good shot at passing. Unemployment insurance compliance and the Top 10% rule are still pending since yesterday and, he added, “We haven’t done TDI Sunset in 16 years. Highest homeowners insurance rates in the nation, and we can’t vote on that?”
This article appears in May 22 • 2009.
