Constitutional Amendment to Article I, Section 8, Clause 6

[Emsworth]

Constitutional Amendment to Article I, Section 8, Clause 6

Article I, Section 8, Clause 6, of the Constitution of Atlasia shall be amended to read thus:

The Senate must approve each and every Budget before moving on to any other matter, except for Presidential nominations, PPT elections, or other similarly urgent matters at the beginning of a session of the Senate.

Sponsor: Sen. Sam Spade

This measure has been brought to the front of the agenda under the OSPR with the approval of the VP and the PPT.

For reference, the original text is simply "The Senate must approve each and every Budget before moving on to any other matter."

[MasterJedi]

Well I certainly suppor this and I think the other Senators will as well.

[True Democrat]

I support this, but could we define "other similarly urgent matters".

[Sam Spade]

I support this, but could we define "other similarly urgent matters".

Let me see if I can come up with a little bit better wording and I'll introduce it as an amendment.

[Colin]

I support this amendment fully. It actually allows us to do critical affairs before we pass a budget. This will get rid of the headache that plagued this Senate at the beginning of this session about when or whether PPT elections should be held. While Emsworth did a great job during that period I must say that a PPT election and the confirmation of Presidential nominees is more critical due to time constraints than the passing of a budget.

[Emsworth]

I support this, but could we define "other similarly urgent matters".

Let me see if I can come up with a little bit better wording and I'll introduce it as an amendment.

We should include, at the very least: impeachments, expulsions, declarations of war, and procedural votes. However, I think that instead of listing all of the exceptions, we could use some more direct wording:

Version 1: The Senate must approve each and every Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment.

Version 2: The Senate must approve each and every Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment. However, the Senate may, by a vote of two-thirds of its number, waive this requirement.

[Colin]

I support this, but could we define "other similarly urgent matters".

Let me see if I can come up with a little bit better wording and I'll introduce it as an amendment.

We should include, at the very least: impeachments, expulsions, declarations of war, and procedural votes. However, I think that instead of listing all of the exceptions, we could use some more direct wording:

Version 1: The Senate must approve each and every Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment.

Version 2: The Senate must approve each and every Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment. However, the Senate may, by a vote of two-thirds of its number, waive this requirement.

Well we could use a combination of them. We could put in a clause stating that the Senate has the right to decide which matters constitute an urgent matter and that the two-thirds approval would not be needed in the case of these "urgent matters". That way the Senate could pass a definition of the urgent matter that would include not only things like the PPT election but also expulsion and impeachment.

[Emsworth]

Well we could use a combination of them. We could put in a clause stating that the Senate has the right to decide which matters constitute an urgent matter and that the two-thirds approval would not be needed in the case of these "urgent matters". That way the Senate could pass a definition of the urgent matter that would include not only things like the PPT election but also expulsion and impeachment.

Well, as far as I can see, everything except bills and constitutional amendments is probably urgent: declaration of war, PPT elections, nominations, expulsions, impeachments, and cloture and other procedural votes.

[MasterJedi]

Just wait until Sam makes the amendment. He always does it well.

[Sam Spade]

Just wait until Sam makes the amendment. He always does it well.

Thanks. 

Though in this situation, I prefer Version 2 of Emsworth's and will introduce it as an amendment to such.

As time has gone on, I think that the inflexibility to get the budget done before doing anything else is not that great of an idea, though I would still prefer that the Senate always get it done first.

I'm sure if we dally too long and use the two-thirds crap to push other legislation through, the GM will punish us by giving us a worse economy than we already have.

[Emsworth]

The Senate must approve each and every Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment. However, the Senate may, by a vote of two-thirds of its number, waive this requirement.

The question is on the Spade amendment. All those in favor, say Aye; those opposed, say No.

[MasterJedi]

Aye

[Colin]

Aye

[Sam Spade]

Aye.

[True Democrat]

Aye

[MHS2002]

Aye

[Emsworth]

There have voted:
Aye: 5
No: 0

Therefore, the amendment is passed. The measure now reads:

Constitutional Amendment to Article I, Section 8, Clause 6

Article I, Section 8, Clause 6, of the Constitution of Atlasia shall be amended to read thus:

The Senate must approve each and every Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment. However, the Senate may, by a vote of two-thirds of its number, waive this requirement.

[Emsworth]

The question is on final passage of the Amendment. All those in favor, say Aye; those opposed, say No.

[Colin]

Aye

[MHS2002]

Aye

[MasterJedi]

Aye

[Gabu]

Aye.

[True Democrat]

Aye

[Sam Spade]

Aye.

[Emsworth]

There being only nine Senators, six is a two-thirds majority.

This Constitutional Amendment has sufficient support to pass. Senators have twenty-four hours to change their votes.