Day 30 - Crossover Madness 4: Rules, Shmules

So, the Republicans came back from the arm-twisting recess ready to fall in line. They introduced a new version of SB 169, with at least 5 amendments and a new name. Sen. Steve Thompson (D) raised an objection, saying with the amendments and the name change, the bill either had to go through the usual committee process (which there would not be time for since it was Crossover Day) or the Senate would have to approve putting the new bill on the Calendar with a 2/3 vote.

Lt. Gov Casey Cagel and the Sec. of the Senate denied Thompson's invocation of the rule - ignoring the rule - and put the new version of the bill on the Calendar for debate.

During the debate, Thompson gave an impassioned speech about the Lt. Gov.'s violation of the rules, saying that the majority party ran the risk of damaging our system of government by playing "fast and loose" with the rules, that the Senate was supposed to be "the deliberative house," and that the embryo/stem cell issue should take a year and a half of work, not be crammed through like it was being.

He, along with others, also took issue with Sen. Ralph T. Hudgens's (R - sponsor of the bill) comparison of embryonic stem cell research to the deadly and torturous experimentation on humans of the Nazi Dr. Mengele and the Tuskegee Experiment. Yes, he really made that comparison.

Sen. David Adelman (D), read the language in the bill that made the use of in vitro fertilization legal only in cases of infertility. Adelman said that this would take away in vitro fertilization away as an option in cases where both members of a couple are fertile but the woman has health problems that make carrying a baby or giving birth dangerous. Hudgens said that in that case the woman was infertile. After much back-and-forth, Adelman nailed Hudgens down on the point, asking, Are you saying that if a woman can get pregnant, but she has a heart condition that makes it dangerous for her to carry a baby, then she is infertile? Hudgens finally answered Yes.