As senators shuffle in for the final quorum call at a little after 5 in the morning, a thought occurs to me: Isn’t this entire operation an exercise in child abuse? Every time the Senate reassembles, pages are forced to man the doors, get glasses of water, and do other pagely duties. These minors need their sleep, and so do I. But I digress. The reconstituted Senate body looks tired. Hillary Clinton, who finished speaking not too long ago on the folly of the Iraq adventure, has reappeared on the Senate floor wrapped in a purple blanket. A few other changes in clothing have been made along the way. But a quorum exists and the sergeant at arms doesn’t need to go out and haul intransigent, wayward members in by the ears. Since very few are intimately aware of the intricacies of the Senate’s parliamentary rules, it might be worth explaining what exactly is meant when people throw around terms like quorum and cloture. In theory, the Senate needs to hold a quorum to do business. In the Senate, a quorum is 50+1. Should a quorum not be reached, those present can vote to send the sergeant at arms after those senators who refuse to appear (a famous example of this occurred in 1988, when Bob Packwood was pulled out of his locked office and onto the floor by the sergeant at arms). In order to make sure no one strays too far from the chamber, therefore, Reid has scheduled periodic quorum calls throughout the evening and morning, ensuring debate continues until Reid calls for a cloture vote. In order for the cloture vote to pass, Reid needs to muster 60 votes. That vote should happen at 11 A.M. With the quorum call complete, the senators again scatter to the winds. By the time Senator John F. Kerry is on his second paragraph, only a handful remain to hear what is certainly a very important speech. We should see them all together only one more time, shortly before this piece of performance politics comes to its eagerly awaited conclusion.
