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Even from his own POV, Graham's math doesn't add up.
He says he had to move his asylum bill b/c if SJC doesn't move bills, leadership will yank them out & SJC will become meaningless.
But here's the problem: Graham didn't allow any amendments (other than his own substitute).
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He says he had to move his asylum bill b/c if SJC doesn't move bills, leadership will yank them out & SJC will become meaningless.
But here's the problem: Graham didn't allow any amendments (other than his own substitute).
1/
What really makes a committee meaningless? Reporting a bill w/o allowing amendments, aka "mark-up".
B/c when it comes to bills, committees have two functions: Hearings & markups. And as committees don't actually need a bill to be referred in order to hold hearings on it…
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B/c when it comes to bills, committees have two functions: Hearings & markups. And as committees don't actually need a bill to be referred in order to hold hearings on it…
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… there's no need to have a referral. Graham could simply hold hearings, then draft a bill to his liking, introduce it, and arrange for McConnell to skip referral & just have it sent straight to the Calendar. Even better, hearings are optional, so he could skip those, too.
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Listening to Graham explain the series of events that led up to toady, I can appreciate his frustration. But...
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… When Graham had his asylum bill reported today without having allowed any amendments (but his own) to be offered, he actually moved towards the very thing he claims he so wants to avoid – making SJC as a Senate committee meaningless to the bill-making process.
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