Crossposted at SmokeyMonkey.org.
In case you missed the excitement last night, you can catch up with my diary that has over 300 comments from while the debate was playing out.
While there are some stories from last night, I have been able to find nothing written today about what all happened. Therefore, I thought I'd do a summary below.
First, I want to provide links for the stories on CNN:
Next, let's do a recap of what happened:
- The day started with S. 1932, which was the budget reconciliation stuff. They concurred on the house amendment and moved on.
- A vote for cloture was then considered on the Defense Appropriations Bill, H.R. 2863 This vote failed, meaning the bill was filibustered. (Roll Call 364)
- Then they went into the longest quorum call I have ever sat through. It was literally 6 or 7 hours while the Senators wrangled with one another. It was well known that the filibuster of the Defense Appropriations Bill was due to the last minute inclusion of the American Energy Independence and Security Act of 2005. Read the article for details, but this is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling provision.
- After however many hours, Senator Ted Stevens asked the parliamentarian about Senate Rule 28, and was told his provision is in violation. He then stormed off to another quorum call muttering that there were several such rule violations (more later).
- Frist, not long after, broke the quorum call with a unanimous consent request that included all the deals that had been made in the last 6 hours. I could not find the text of the request, but essentially included and extension of the filibustered Patriot Act for 6 months, the presentation of a concurrent resolution (S.Con.Res. 74) that would remove the ANWR provision, followed by a vote on defense appropriations, then unanimous consent to end filibuster on a bunch of nominations.
- The vote on the concurrent resolution was interesting, but passed 48-45, with several Republicans voting with Democrats, and several not voting. (Roll Call 365)
- Defense Appropriations then passed 93-0, and was sent back to the House. (Roll Call 366) Apparently, the House will convene at 4p Eastern today.
Now, here are the confusing parts that need to be clarified about what really happened:
- Did Frist's provisions to limit liability on companies manufacturing flu drugs make it in? I couldn't find it anywhere in the text. There is Sec. 8116 that gives almost $4 billion to avian flu programs, but I see nothing there about manufacturers liability. My impression when listening to Kennedy was that it was part of the agreement to remove that as well.
- Did Katrina relief get thrown out with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling provision? It appears there is $5 million for Katrina administration in Sec. 8174, but the Gulf Coast Recovery Fund was part of the American Energy Independence and Security Act of 2005. I do not have the text of what was struck.
- Did Ted Stevens resign? The speech he gave is still on C-SPAN.org, but linking C-SPAN video is problematic. At the end he said something to the effect of 'Tonight I say goodbye to the Senate.' Will we be hearing more about that?