It's my stalker, Zipperpus again! And of course he has yet another simple-minded explanation for (almost) everything.

"Hey stupid, the rules for the Senate require 60 or more votes to pass non-budget legislation that isn't paid for by equivalent program cuts or tax increases."

If only the Senate itself were as simple-minded as Zipperpus, what a beautiful world this would be!

But it isn't, and the actual rule that governs some deficit spending is anything except simple.

SEC. 201. PAY-AS-YOU-GO POINT OF ORDER IN THE SENATE.

(a) Point of Order-

(1) IN GENERAL- It shall not be in order in the Senate to consider any direct spending or revenue legislation that would increase the on-budget deficit or cause an on-budget deficit for either of the applicable time periods as measured in paragraphs (5) and (6).

(2) APPLICABLE TIME PERIODS- For purposes of this subsection, the term `applicable time period' means either--

(A) the period of the current fiscal year, the budget year, and the ensuing 4 fiscal years following the budget year; or

(B) the period of the current fiscal year, the budget year, and the ensuing 9 fiscal years following the budget year.

(3) DIRECT SPENDING LEGISLATION- For purposes of this subsection and except as provided in paragraph (4), the term `direct spending legislation' means any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that affects direct spending as that term is defined by, and interpreted for purposes of, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

(4) EXCLUSION- For purposes of this subsection, the terms `direct spending legislation' and `revenue legislation' do not include--

(A) any concurrent resolution on the budget; or

(B) any provision of legislation that affects the full funding of, and continuation of, the deposit insurance guarantee commitment in effect on the date of enactment of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.

(5) BASELINE- Estimates prepared pursuant to this subsection shall--

(A) use the baseline surplus or deficit used for the most recently adopted concurrent resolution on the budget; and

(B) be calculated under the requirements of subsections (b) through (d) of section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (as in effect prior to September 30, 2002) for fiscal years beyond those covered by that concurrent resolution on the budget.

(6) PRIOR SURPLUS- If direct spending or revenue legislation increases the on-budget deficit or causes an on-budget deficit when taken individually, it must also increase the on-budget deficit or cause an on-budget deficit when taken together with all direct spending and revenue legislation enacted since the beginning of the calendar year not accounted for in the baseline under paragraph (5)(A), except that direct spending or revenue effects resulting in net deficit reduction enacted in any bill pursuant to a reconciliation instruction since the beginning of that same calendar year shall never be made available on the pay-as-you-go ledger and shall be dedicated only for deficit reduction.

(b) Supermajority Waiver and Appeals-

(1) WAIVER- This section may be waived or suspended in the Senate only by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn.

(2) APPEALS- Appeals in the Senate from the decisions of the Chair relating to any provision of this section shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the appellant and the manager of the bill or joint resolution, as the case may be. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under this section.

(c) Determination of Budget Levels- For purposes of this section, the levels of new budget authority, outlays, and revenues for a fiscal year shall be determined on the basis of estimates made by the Senate Committee on the Budget.

(d) Sunset- This section shall expire on September 30, 2017.

(e) Repeal- In the Senate, section 505 of H. Con. Res. 95 (108th Congress), the fiscal year 2004 concurrent resolution on the budget, shall no longer apply.

The section in boldface is worth special attention from mechanical "I love love love Obama!" posters like Boyd Reed and junior-college government experts like Zipperpus, although it's only one and by far the simplest of about a hundred significant qualifications of the so-called "necessity" of 60 votes for the stimulus, all of which can be bypassed by one parliamentary dodge or another.

So here's a question for Boyd "Obama Is Always Right" Reed and Zipperpus (Marine slang for "boy-toy")...

What happens if the Chair of the Senate, which can be Joe Biden any time he wants it to be, simply rules that the Sec. 201 point of order does not apply to the stimulus?

What happens next?

Then it's the Republicans who need 60 votes to over-rule the ruling of the Chair, and that big, ugly shoe is on the other foot.

Harharharhar!!!

And that's only one way, and by far the simplest, that Democrats could have avoided the "necessity" of 60 Senate votes to pass the stimulus, if Barack Obama wasn't such a wussy, and Harry Reid had the balls to play hard-ball with the Republicans.

But what Democrats really (almost) can't avoid is a filibuster, which can (almost) always interrupt the proceedings, but if they had the courage of their convictions, they could also overcome a filibuster, with the same "nuclear option" that Republicans threatened to apply to judicial nominations, and which also depended on a ruling from the Chair, way back when the Chair by default was Richard B. Cheney.

Thanks to you and zipperupus for typing that so I didn't have to.

And Ridgepole, there's a nice $10-20 blind no-limit game about 5 minutes from my house in suburban Pittsburgh. Meets twice a week. If you're interested, I'll gladly post my e-mail address and you can write me for directions. :-)