This vote was on whether to waive a procedural objection raised against an amendment by John Cornyn, R-Texas, having to do with deficit spending.  Cornyn offered his amendment, which another senator then objected to on procedural grounds known as a “point of order.”  The point of order alleged that Cornyn’s amendment would violate one of the Senate’s rules against passing any bill or amendment that would increase deficit spending.  The bill or amendment in question can be defeated by this point of order unless the rule is waived.  After a point of order was raised, Cornyn then asked that the rule be waived for his amendment.

The amendment was offered to the budget resolution that serves as the blueprint for Congress’ budget priorities in fiscal 2009. The budget resolution sets overall spending targets for the Appropriations committees and outlines other budget rules.

A "point of order" is a procedural motion senators may bring up when they feel a bill, amendment or other motion violates certain rules set out by Congress to govern itself.  Unless senators vote to waive those rules – which usually takes 60 votes, a large margin in the Senate -- the bill, amendment or motion in question can be killed by the point of order.  A point of order was raised against the amendment as violating the rule requiring that amendments be related (or “germane”) to the bills to which they are being offered.  Cornyn then made a motion that the rule be waived in this case.

“If the Senate is serious about fiscal discipline and believes that pay-go is a useful tool in helping control Government spending, then the Senate should be unanimous in passing any bill that violates pay-go, a tool the majority, including members of the Budget Committee, has advocated as a way to keep check on expanding or creating a new Government program. It has been criticized because it does not apply to discretionary spending and has failed to constrain the growth in entitlement programs,” Cornyn said.

Kent Conrad, D-N.D., then moved to strike the amendment as not germane.

By a vote of 27-71, the motion was rejected.  Every Democrat present voted against the motion.  Of Republicans present, 27 voted for the motion and 21 voted against it.  The end result is that the motion to waive the rules was rejected and Cornyn’s amendment that would have required the approval of every senator to raise deficit spending was defeated.