General Senate Discussion

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think we need to elect a new Speaker now that Talleyrand has resigned

Polnut is the one who has to open the thread under the rules (though Nix might be able to in the case of the Dean being on leave), but he is on leave until Sunday.

Though I should note he has been posting on the forum generally for the past week though he has not posted in the Senate. So how unreachable he might be is uncertain.

New Order of Seniority
Polnut - Dean of the Senate
Cris
Blair
myself
New Canadaland
Turk
Snowguy
PiT
Vacant
Vacant

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The current senate:

Polnut
Cris
Blair
NC Yankee
New Canadaland
Snowguy716
PiT
Rpyror
Kalwejt
Vacant

?

FTFY

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Why would Kalwejt's seat be vacant?

Good catch, the vacancy is the Pacific pending you taking office.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I don't see a "General Court Discussion" thread anywhere (maybe I missed it?) and I'd rather not clutter up the case thread that is already cluttered by a silly argument you and Windjammer had.

Also, how was that a hysterical rant? 3 sentences is hardly a rant (I mean, of anyone, I think I'd know what constitutes a rant...), and it was far from hysterical.

I created one in 2009, but it is not stickied and only gets bumped, usually by me, when a case has started, which means that most discussion has already run its course in other places, even the case threads the discussion thread was meant to keep clear.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I don't see a "General Court Discussion" thread anywhere (maybe I missed it?) and I'd rather not clutter up the case thread that is already cluttered by a silly argument you and Windjammer had.

Also, how was that a hysterical rant? 3 sentences is hardly a rant (I mean, of anyone, I think I'd know what constitutes a rant...), and it was far from hysterical.

I created one in 2009, but it is not stickied and only gets bumped, usually by me, when a case has started, which means that most discussion has already run its course in other places, even the case threads the discussion thread was meant to keep clear.

Well, someone should sticky it then.

Its not officially endorsed. I was not a PPT or even Dean of the Senate when I created it, just a first term regional Senator from the then Dirty South. Some might say I "malaciously" created a place for supreme court discussion to occur outside of case threads.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Apologies for a drop in activity over the weekend -- it's a very busy time of year at work and school. I'll be looking through these new bills shortly.

Yea, I kind of had the same just with the former. I planned to spend most of today taking care of stuff on here, but with most of my days off, I ended up spending it asleep and taking care of important real life matters, within the limits that a Sunday allows.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Is it time for another PPT election?

Isn't it also March 3rd?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Is it time for another PPT election?

Isn't it also March 3rd?

That would probably be it, then. Whoops.

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rules are linked in the Noticeboard for both chambers, have been since I was VP in December.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

At least there was an effort to defend bicameralism in the Make the Atlasia federal government more efficient amendment. Explains the theory behind it. Better than argument at the constituional convention. 

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The convention fell for it not listening to the voices of the practicality. Making the legislative process more complicated and slow. When I look at the government board, I have a hard time knowing what passed one chamber and is on the verge of becoming law if the other adopt it or what is just starting in the legislative process. I have a harder time to follow what is going on.

The other issue was the number of offices. With the two chambers, there are more offices in Nyman so the reduction in the total number of seats was smaller. It makes it more difficult for regions to have a good number of players for regional assemblies.

I had to count the vote in the convention and it looks like it was 9 for bicameralism, 7 for unicameralism, 2 absentations and 1 expressing reservations but not even voting. A very divisive plan and vote.   

The bills passing each chamber are listed at the bottom of this post: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=260022.msg5556788#msg5556788

When they pass both chambers, they are put in the list at the very bottom and sent to the President. If you see a bill before the house or Senate, if it passed the other chamber, it will be in its respective list in that post.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Look I have said it before, and I will say it a million times. If someone has not responded within a day or two, PM them the link to the thread. Especially in this case since:

1. This thread is a pre-reset hold over that is thoroughly obsolete. I even included it in a list to be unstickied, but it never was a long time ago, so that the VP could replace it with one open for both houses.


2. Because of Number 1, This thread only pertains to the Senate and therefore I have generally not kept up with it from a House perspective.

Please don't pontificate about waiting for a response in a dead thread without even PMing anyone in a position to give you an answer, or even posting it in the debate threads where people would actively see it and respond. As many are aware Scott has been going through some difficult times lately, therefore he probably hasn't been keeping up with this thread most likely and therefore the lack of response.


But to answer the question, there is nothing that stops us from debating bills simultaneously. We did it with Healthcare and the Budget Process and Control Act. It is perfect for dealing with emergency situations where it is time sensitive and we don't have time to wait for both Houses to act in serial fashion. It also works good for bills that are big projects as well since it gets all the issues blocking a majority from being achieved out in the open in both houses, they can be addressed and passage achieved in a timely fashion. This enabled healthcare to succeed compared to the Right to Life Act a year prior, which kept getting bounced back and forth and ultimately died.

The only requirement is that final bill has to pass both houses, and the vice President is the arbiter of that and making sure that the bill text (contained only within the inner quote box, since the out box contains chamber specific material like House/Senate bill, and vote links etc), is the same one that passed both chambers before being passed to the President for a signature or veto.

All amendments are tracked in each chamber. And Scott and I frequently communicate about bills that present in both chambers simultaneously. Often times we are sponsors in each house for said bills like with Healthcare, Budget Process and Control and finally, the FRR. The War declaration was the only one that wasn't like that and that is because Truman wrote the bulk of it, instead of me.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Thanks for the explanation.

I disagree that the thread is obsolete. The title could be changed to Senate and House or Nyman general discussion. The question involved the Senate so it was the right place to ask.

The question was not directed at one individual. Anybody could have replied with the information (white house, senators, house members, Cabinet) and it's better to do it in public rather than pm so everyone can learn how things work.

This thread is to favor citizen participation. It would be a mistake to remove it since public participation is already low. I don't know if it's too much to ask for some federal officeholders to check this thread from time to time to see citizens comments, concerns and questions.   

I didn't say remove it, I said remove and replace with one for both houses. Please come down off your high horse long enough to read what I said, and not what you want to think I said.

Creating a new thread would also draw attention to the fact that it has been updated and therefore people should pay attention to it.