Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Throw Down in the Senate
There are some raw nerves in the Senate tonight after debate of a $3.7 billion tax bill was cut short with a rarely used procedural maneuver. Senators had just started debating House Bill 3540, a huge revenue bill by Finance Chair Steve Ogden, when Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) called for the previous question, a rarely used procedural gambit that cuts off debate and moves immediately to a vote. That killed more than 50 pending amendments to HB 3540, including one that would have legalized video lottery terminals. Supporters believed they had the 16 votes needed to get VLTs into the bill--but the amendment perished with all the rest. Quorum Report has some more details.
After debate was cut off, senators had angry words for each other. Sen. Ken Armbrister (D-Victoria), who saw several of his amendments die, told his colleagues that the Senate was subjugating itself to the House on too many issues and that the upper chamber should have had a chance to debate HB 3540. "This is the biggest tax bill in the history of the state and [16] of us had little or no input," he said. It was a rare level of animosity in the normally staid Senate. In fact, it looked a lot like the raw debates we normally see in--and we know this is going to sting--the House.
After debate was cut off, senators had angry words for each other. Sen. Ken Armbrister (D-Victoria), who saw several of his amendments die, told his colleagues that the Senate was subjugating itself to the House on too many issues and that the upper chamber should have had a chance to debate HB 3540. "This is the biggest tax bill in the history of the state and [16] of us had little or no input," he said. It was a rare level of animosity in the normally staid Senate. In fact, it looked a lot like the raw debates we normally see in--and we know this is going to sting--the House.