Two procedural votes in the Senate, on November 14, blocked further consideration of a Democratic tax stimulus package (H.R. 3090) that was approved last week by the Senate Finance Committee (see The Source, 11/9/01).
Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) raised points of order against a $15 billion emergency homeland security amendment by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and a manager’s amendment by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), which made technical changes to the bill that was approved by the committee. Under Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to waive a point of order. Both the vote on the emergency security amendment, 51-47, and the vote on the manager’s amendment, 51-47, were cast along party lines and failed to overturn the points of order.
Senators agreed to set the measure aside to allow more time for further negotiations.
