I wish I had a better grasp of Congressional procedure. I can figure out what's going on for individual tight focussed stories that someone else knowledgable is covering, but beyond that I get lost instantly.

Yeah, I am guessing from joshtpm that bringing items up for a vote...without debate...can be done to get past cloture votes. That doesn't make a lot of sense, but Reid was saying there would be a vote, and seemed to be saying there would be no debate.

I doubt that -- I'm figuring that he either thinks, somehow, that he's got the votes for cloture, or that this makes the situation simple enough for a filibuster to embarrass the republicans.

I'd like to see the Republicans forced to filibuster what's really amounts to a no-confidence vote on the President's handling of the war.

3:LB, I am wondering, it is the House bill, could they have whipped it thru reconciliation so fast? IIRC, you can't filibuster reconciliation bills.

5:Excuse me, can't be a reconcilition bill without a Senate bill to reconcile with. Stupid. Sorry.