You need two-thirds of the House to pass a bill under a suspension of the rules. Speaker Boehner tried and failed to get two-thirds for an extension of expiring provisions of the Patriot Act. The roll call is interesting. There are some small glimmers of hope that concern for civil liberties is not completely dead in the GOP. There’s also plenty of evidence that Democrats representing communities that lost people on 9/11 were afraid to oppose anything that might make us more secure.
The Speaker of the House uses the suspension of the rules to pass uncontroversial legislation in a hurry. No amendments are in order and debate is limited to 40 minutes. Fortunately, it turns out that the Patriot Act isn’t uncontroversial.
Face-palm.
They’ll be able to pass the bill, but they’ll have to allow some amendments and more time for debate.