Just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier...

😳

‘I make a point of order that points of order are in order...’ The Senate’s procedural paradoxes never cease to amaze me.

The world’s greatest deliberative body has the right idea.

I should have said this at the start: the issue is that this (statutory) rule prohibits points of order, but it also seems to imply that you can appeal from rulings of the chair on points of order—but how can there be a point of order?

I don’t know what the right answer to Thune’s point of order is, but *at best* these provisions are confusing. I’ve said this before, but Congress really needs to rewrite and consolidate all the different fast-track procedures; there are some that are *much* worse than the CRA.

Conclusion: You cannot make a point of order while another point of order is pending.

More dilatory motions

The cooler way to do this would be to have other senators offer amendments to the motion to recess to substitute a different time.

And another one...

Still going

How long until the Senate bans dilatory motions?

The funniest possible outcome here would be if Thune’s point of order got filibustered so hard that they had to use cloture on it.

They got bored of the motion to recess!

Why restrict yourself to the motions you find in the rulebook?

They finally got to the point of order!

Conclusion #2: Points of order are in order under the Congressional Review Act.

😳

Conclusion #3: Joint resolutions that meet all the requirements of section 802 of the CRA or are disapproving of agency actions which have been determined to be rules subject to the CRA by a legal decision from the GAO are entitled to expedited procedures under the CRA.

Final conclusion: When the cloture threshold gets nuked, it will not be by overturning a ruling of the chair, but by sustaining a point of order submitted by the presiding officer to the Senate.

Oh, one more thing... For most budget points of order, overturning a ruling of the chair requires 60 votes. If the presiding officer decided to submit that point of order to the Senate for its decision, only a simple majority (or a tie vote) would be required to overrule it. 😳

📷 A tough day in the jungle—how does this sloth overcome it? The twist you didn’t see coming