Alan Frumin is the Parliamentarian of the United States Senate. In 1935, the Senate actually did something correct. They made a full time position of Parliamentarian. The Parliamentarian's job is to advise the Presiding Officer on parliamentary procedure and on the Standing Rules of the Senate.
In a nutshell, Mr. Frumin's job is to advise Senate membership what's in their own rules. Rules like when a particular vote can take place and when it can not take place. When can you use Reconciliation or when you can not use Reconciliation.
Yesterday the Parlimentarian told the Senate that a Reconcilation bill has to make changes in a current law. The Health care bill is not law yet, so they cannot make a reconciliation bill until they actually pass the Senate version of the health care bill and President Obama signs it into law. So now the health care bill's status is all left up to the House of Representatives. Our current Speaker of the House already wants members to vote yes on the Senate bill with the promise that we will fix it later. Everybody knows the fix will never happen. Please contact your House member and tell them to vote NO on the health care bill. For those in Colorado District 3 the phone numbers for John Salazar are:
Washington D.C. - (202)225-4761
Grand Junction - (970)245-7107
Pueblo - (719)543-8200
Alamosa - (719)587-5105
Durango - (970)259-1012
On a side note about the Parliamentarian of the Senate...
Have you ever noticed how there is usually one person that knows everything that is going on in an organization? These people are always in the background always ready with the information. No one knows there names, but without them the organization would be lost. They are the little nerdlings that help everything run. The Parliamentarian of the Senate is one of those people.
These "Radar O' Riley" (from the television show M*A*S*H) types often go unappreciated. You may never know how the "Radar" in your organization helped you but they did, so say tell your "Radar" thank you and buy them a cup of coffee, that goes a long way when you need help on that next form.
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