user: Democrats can use this one weird trick to end the government shutdown

By Steve Pearlstein, Published: October 2 at 11:20 am

Okay, so nobody thought it worthwhile last weekend to take up my idea for avoiding a government shutdown by offering John Boehner the chance to escape the grip of the Tea Party and transform himself from Speaker of the Republican Caucus to the Speaker of the Whole House of Representatives.

Mr. Boehner, discharge this petition! (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

So here’s Plan B, which would temporarily solve both the funding and the looming debt ceiling crises without requiring Boehner or the Republican caucus to do anything other than abide by the rules of the House:

House Democratic leaders should immediately file a bill with two simple provisions: one, providing for short-term funding for the government until Jan. 1, 2015, and a second lifting the debt sufficient to comfortably get the government past New Year’s (with the shutdown, the two issues are now effectively joined at the hip). The deadline should provide for plenty of time to negotiate a grand bargain while keeping pressure on everyone to negotiate.

Then the Democrats should circulate what is called a discharge petition for a special rule to bring it to the floor for an immediate vote. All it would take is about 20 responsible Republicans to sign the discharge petition, along with nearly the entire Democratic caucus, to create a majority that could force the vote and pass the bill. There are said to be at least that many Republicans willing to support such a bill, and as the shutdown proceeds there will likely be more.

Under House rules, once the discharge petition, with the requisite 218 signatures, is filed with the clerk, it immediately goes on what’s called the “Discharge Calendar.” And once the newly filed “clean” funding-cum-debt ceiling bill has sat in committee for thirty days, petition discharging the committee from further consideration can be called up by any member of the House on the second and fourth Monday of any month. As a “privileged motion,” it would interrupt almost all other business pending before the House.

This is a well-established way for a majority House members to get around a recalcitrant speaker or majority caucus — it’s been used successfully dozens of times in the modern era, including the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The question isn’t whether it would work. The real question is why House Democrats didn’t think to set the process in motion last week, when the shutdown was already a real possibility.

Due to the calendar, a discharge petition, at this point, won't avoid a shutdown, or even a problem with the debt ceiling, but it will provide a backstop and possibly put the pressure on the Republican leadership to allow an up-or-down vote by the entire House.

Correction: This post originally stated that a bill needs to sit in committee for seven days before a discharge petition can be used. It's actually 30 days. We regret the error.

For more discharge wonkery: The Monkey Cage's Sarah Binder has a deep dive on the technical aspects of using a discharge petition.

Summary: Mr. Boehner, discharge this petition!


Status of World Trade Center Site 11 Years Later

Eleven years after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the new multibillion-dollar World Trade Center once again dominates the lower Manhattan skyline. Hundreds of construction workers are at the 16-acre site every day, and tourists snap thousands of photos of the two towers that are nearing completion.

The status of the trade center's major components, according to developers:

— Most of the 8-acre memorial quadrangle at the World Trade Center opened last year on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Since then, 4.5 million people have visited the memorial, with its twin reflecting pools where the towers stood. But a museum being built in a cavern beneath the plaza is still incomplete. Work all but stopped last fall because of a funding dispute between the memorial foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but on Monday the two parties announced an agreement that will pave the way for its eventual completion. Joseph Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said that once construction resumes it will take more than a year to finish the job, meaning the museum might not open until 2014.

Freedom Tower at Ground Zero Reaches New Heights

One World Trade Center to Be New York's Highest

— One World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, will open in 2014 on the northwest corner of the trade center site with 3 million square feet of office space. Tenants so far include magazine publisher Conde Nast and the federal government's General Services Administration. The spire atop the 104-story building will reach the symbolic height of 1,776 feet. There will be observation decks on the 100th, 101st and 102nd floors. The building without the spire has reached its full height of 1,368 feet. It is expected to cost $3.9 billion by the time it is finished.

— The first office building to open will be the 72-story 4 World Trade Center at the southeast corner of the site. It has reached its full height of 977 feet and is scheduled to open in October 2013. Tenants will include the Port Authority, the bistate agency that owns the trade center site and lost its headquarters when the twin towers were attacked.

— Just north of 4 World Trade Center is 3 World Trade Center, which is now an eight-story stub but will reach 80 stories and 1,150 feet when it's complete. Developer Larry Silverstein is required to lease at least 400,000 square feet of space before finishing the building. Silverstein's team is projecting a completion date of 2015 or 2016.

— At the site's northeast corner, 2 World Trade Center is up only to street level. The building is planned as an 88-story skyscraper but will not be built until the commercial real estate market picks up enough to fill it.

— The new transportation hub at the trade center will connect 13 subway lines and PATH trains to New Jersey when it opens in 2015. It will replace the temporary PATH station that was built after the Sept. 11 attacks. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the station will serve 250,000 travelers a day. There will be two levels of retail space. None of the tenants has been announced yet. The cost of the transportation hub, originally pegged at $2.2 billion, is now expected to exceed $3.5 billion.

— A performing arts center planned for the site has been in limbo for years. A board of directors was named this year and was given the task of raising money to build the center, which is to include a 1,000-seat theater.

— An underground vehicle security center and bus parking facility just south of the main trade center site will open in 2013.

Summary:

assistant: Office towers, transportation hub under way at World Trade Center site 11 years later