Word: frumin
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...will be up to Frumin to decide what parts of the previously passed Senate health care bill Senate Democrats can and cannot amend with a simple majority of 51 votes. House Democrats, who are being asked to pass a Senate bill with which they have some real disagreements, are counting on their Senate colleagues to make a certain number of tweaks after the fact, but that is no easy task. (See 5 things to watch at Obama's health care summit...
...Frumin, 63, is a graduate of Colgate University in upstate New York and Georgetown Law. He's worked for the parliamentarian's office since 1977, and starting four years after that, he and former parliamentarian Bob Dove have effectively rotated what must be one of the most thankless jobs on Capitol Hill. They kept switching off because various congressional leaders fired one or the other in frustration. Dove served under Republicans from 1981-87, when he was fired by Robert Byrd after Dems took control. Frumin ran things until 1995, when Dove was reinstated. He only lasted until 2001, when...
...Dove says the Dems' planned use of reconciliation is highly unusual. "I've never seen a two-bill strategy" where reconciliation is used to fix another piece of legislation, he says. "It's permissible, I've just never seen it." How busy Frumin will be will depend on how many amendments Republicans file. Dove's worst year for reconciliation was 1995, when he threw out more than 300 amendments, many related to a Medicaid block grant program Republicans were trying to ram through reconciliation. President Bill Clinton ended up vetoing that bill in part due to his opposition...
...When it comes down to it, though, it is not the parliamentarians that make the final decision. Frumin's $170,000-a-year job is strictly advisory: he recommends, based on his expertise and the research done by his office on precedents, a course of action to whomever is presiding over the Senate - in formal votes this is the Vice President. But if the leaders choose to ignore the parliamentarian's advice, they do so at their own peril: rulings that aren't backed up are subject to challenge. "Whoever's in the chair does make the ultimate decision...
...Parliamentarians' loyalty is above all to the institution, however imperfect. When asked if he supports the filibuster and cloture, Dove quoted the advice passed on to him by his predecessor and that he passed on to Frumin: "The rules are perfect and if they're all changed, the rules are still all perfect...