As noted by many news outlets, White House chief of staff, Jack Lew, “misspoke” when he claimed on Sunday’s Meet the Press that Senate rules require 60 votes to pass a budget. It only takes 51. The former budget director further argued that, given the need to reach 60 votes, Republican recalcitrance was responsible for the failure of the Senate, and by extension the White House, to deliver a budget to the American people. The Washington Post gives Lew four out of four Pinocchios for his, er, “misleading claim.”
One point, though, that seems to have been overlooked by the Beltway media is that the position of president of the Senate is held by the Vice President of the United States. And currently that man happens to be former Senator Joe Biden, a man who up until 2009 served in the greatest deliberative body for almost the entirety of his adult life.
While occupants of the vice presidency have typically only alighted on their Constitutionally prescribed Senate perch to cast tie breaking votes, as Senate.gov notes the position of vice president (itself created only as a vague notion) has one explicit duty: to serve as of president of the Senate: “The framers also devoted scant attention to the vice president’s duties, providing only that he ‘shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be evenly divided’ (Article I, section 3).”
Moreover, “[E]ven though the nature of the job has changed, it is still greatly affected by the personality and skills of the individual incumbent.”
So, Joe, what are you waiting for? You loved the Senate! Get up there!
It would seem that if the White House was sincere in its effort to pass a budget, it need only deploy one of the Senate’s proudest retired members, previously the chamber’s fourth most senior member having served six terms, an unparalleled master of Senate rules and customs, a close political ally and colleague of the current majority leader, the pride of Delaware: Joseph R. Biden.
Tucked away just off of the Senate floor is an elegant office suite for the use of the vice president to plot strategy, conduct negotiations, hold forth, take naps. Joe Biden would seem perfectly suited to the task. One imagines he would relish it.
So, why has the White House declined to dispatch such an able lieutenant to corral the troops and deliver the 51 votes needed for legislative victory? The answer certainly can’t be lack of “access.”
"Senator Joe Biden, a man who up until 2009 served in the greatest deliberative body for almost the entirety of his adult life."
-funny, seemed like 4 or 5 adult lifetimes...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBiden has never been much use to this administration -- he was only chosen to balance the ticket (old white guy with lots of "experience" running alongside an untested "non-white" youngster). If Obama wanted a partner, he would have picked a governor under the age of 50, not a nearly 80 year old senator! (But the risk there would have been that a more competent veep would make Obama look dimmer. Biden is also useful for "making Obama look good by comparison"!)
Furthermore I would assume he's in "sequestration" right now due to some combination of factors along these lines: 1) Biden may seriously disagree with the bosses' stance on the "catholic conscious question", 2) Biden can barely get a thought across at the best of times, 3) if you weren't sure of Biden's loyalty, and didn't trust him to say the right thing even if he was on your side, would you want to risk putting him out in front of the press in an election year? 4) Especially since it has been widely reported that Biden dissented and therefore the press ought to hound him on the question of whether/why he is/isn't or was/wasn't sticking up for Catholics.
Sir Gaffes-A-Lot was good for some giggles when they were basking in the glow of "we won", but the stakes are higher and the political situation more precarious today.
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