So it seems that if, god forbid, we should lose a senator between now and the opening of Congress in Jan, things get dicey for determining control.
My question is; when the Senate first opens new session, what rules are in place? As I have learned in the past 24 hours, the rules are extremely important to the functioning of that body. And exactly how things could play out in early January has caught my attention. <please join me past the jump>
Clearly, the Constitution is silent on the issue of the "rules" of the Senate. Do the rules from the prior session remain in place? Or is the place 'ruleless' until the new rules have been voted on? With no rules, it would seem that it would be impossible to filibuster. In fact, it would seem that it would be hard to do anything.
Also, according the Constitution, the VP only gets to vote in the case of tie, so in a 50-49 vote, Cheney wouldn't be able to gum up the works.