Patrick McSweeney


 

How the Senate Really Operates

Richard Saslaw and Russell Potts revealed the true temperament of the state Senate by uttering in public opinions normally expressed behind closed doors.


 

Two recent statements by members of the Virginia Senate give the public a rare glimpse at how that chamber really functions. For years, candid discussion and open debate have been suppressed by the leadership of both parties in the Senate, especially on issues relating to abortion.

 

One of those statements, which will surely ring in the ears of pro-life voters for years, was made by Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, as he was overcoming the shock of confronting a potential floor vote on abortion. By design of the Senate leadership, all abortion legislation is supposed to be killed in the Senate Education and Health Committee, thereby avoiding recorded floor votes that could be readily monitored by the public and prove politically damaging to the members.

 

In arguing against a House amendment that would prohibit Medicaid funding of abortions, Saslaw said that the amendment was objectionable because the cost of caring for the infants who would be born rather than aborted if the amendment were accepted far exceeded the amount saved by eliminating government funding of the abortions. This prompted Sen. Jay O’Brien, R-Fairfax, to respond that whether life is protected should never be reduced to such a cost-benefit calculation.

 

This is the kind of public exchange the Senate leadership wants to avoid. Better to kill pro-life legislation in Committee and out of sight.

 

The other notable statement came from Sen. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on several House-passed transportation measures. Potts characterized as inadequate the House GOP initiative, which includes $1 billion in immediate transportation funding. According to Potts, “$1 billion is a gnat on an elephant’s rear end.”

 

Taxpayers should get a firm grip on their wallets. A huge tax increase will be proposed next year. 

 

On both issues, the Senate leadership is playing games. The only way abortion-related legislation can ever reach the Senate floor, given the pro-abortion majority on the Senate Education and Health Committee, is through a House amendment to Senate-passed legislation.

 

Senate rules provide for an up-or-down vote on whether a House amendment to a Senate bill will be accepted or rejected, but Lt. Gov. Timothy Kaine found a trap door for Saslaw and the GOP leadership when he ruled, contrary to the plain language of the Senate Rules, that the legislation could be sent to committee without a floor vote on the House amendment barring Medicaid funding for abortions.

 

Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City, the GOP leader in the chamber, acted as enforcer among wavering Republicans to assure that the full Senate would not have to vote on the abortion ban amendment. Pro-life voters are certain to question whether the GOP deserves their support when its leaders work hand in glove with Democrats in the General Assembly to sidetrack legislation such as the ban on Medicaid funding of abortions.

 

The statement by Potts that “$1 billion is a gnat on an elephant’s rear end” indicates a view shared by many of his Senate colleagues who favor additional tax hikes far larger than any suggested by Gov. Mark R. Warner. Ironically, the Senate leadership has fought the House to reduce the amount of funding for transportation authorized at this session so that pressure will build going into the 2006 legislative session to enact a massive tax increase for roads and other transportation projects.

 

The Senate has hardly embraced the idea of governing in full daylight, but these two little rays of light may give voters an idea about what really goes on in the Senate.

 

-- February 28, 2005

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Information

 

McSweeney & Crump

11 South Twelfth Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 783-6802

pmcsweeney@

   mcbump.com