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Managed to pry myself away from Hyrule for long enough to make it to the State House for today's full House session; will be livetweeting as usual. Some big votes today include the so-called "Parental Bill of Rights" and the extension of Medicaid expansion. #NHPolitics
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good grief there are a lot of amendments proposed to the Medicaid expansion one
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getting started now; missed the name of the pastor leading prayer, but apparently he's interim at St. Paul's (assuming the one across the street)
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Today's anthem singer had some cheesy MIDI CD-quality track for accompaniment
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Now speaking: Jaci Grote memorializing David Gordon
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oops, apologies, I misheard: apparently his last name is actually "Borden": @LarryDrake2/1659201199340658688
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time for concurrences with Senate-amended House bills
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looks like there are more R declared absences than D declared absences today: @AdamSextonWMUR/1659201070172897284
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consent calendar adopted; onto the regular calendar
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Now under discussion: SB128, relative to payment for legal services for persons involuntarily admitted for mental health services. There's an amendment to it drawing a distinction btwn indigent & non-indigent defendants; I heard the words "means testing" which have me suspicious
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Now speaking: Rep. Lynn in favor of the amendment to SB128. I am leaning to oppose the amendment, but wonder if @NAMI_NH has taken a position on it.
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this is amendment 1676h to SB128, btw, which apparently is the committee amendment that supersedes a previous non-germane amendment to the bill. Kinda confusing, but yeah this amendment is bad
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If you're possibly getting committed to a mental institution, you're not going to be able to deal with legal fees, regardless of indigency. At least, I know that I definitely wouldn't be able to do so, if it were me.
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amendment to SB128 fails 182-201; onto voting on the OTP motion on the underlying bill (unamended)
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SB128 passes OTP 207-177; good!
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reminder that voice votes often go by too quickly for me to comment on
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Now up: Dennis Malloy speaking against SB120, relative to charitable gaming (gambling) licenses applications, wages, stakes, and bonds
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The GOP Rep speaking in favor of SB120 says it's to reduce bureaucratic hurdles; gambling is one of the areas where bureaucratic hurdles are *necessary*, IMO
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gambling can be an addiction; people suffering from an addiction often can't control their behavior and end up doing things they don't want to do.
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SB120 passes OTP/A 202-182; whatever... onto the first of the big controversial bill of the day: SB272, the so-called "Parental Bill of Rights". Looks like there are 7 amendments scheduled. @RepWilhelm moves indefinite postponement, but Speaker Packard says amdmts take precedence
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First amendment to SB272 under discussion is 1819h, a floor amendment from Rep. Merchant to change the definition of "school" to handle the case of students that get sent across the Connecticut River into Vermont.
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or wait, I think I misunderstood: Rep. Ladd is citing the case of interstate school districts as an unintended consequence and reason for opposing the amendment; intent of amendment is to cover private schools that receive public funds (e.g. Pinkerton, I think?)
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amdmt 1818h to SB272 is adopted 196-188; next is amdmt 1819h, another floor amendment from Rep. Merchant, this one meant to handle conflicts with law enforcement. Rep. Shurtleff is doing the PI in favor of it.
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Rep. Ladd has the PI against amendment 1819h to SB272
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amdmt 1819h is adopted 196-189; next amdmt is 1836h, another floor amendment from Rep. Merchant, this one adds language protecting the confidentiality of minors. Good speech from a public school teacher on this amendment!
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"You won't have any public school teachers left," she warns, well yeah, that's kind of the goal of the privatizers (not saying which so as to avoid violating the rule on impugning motive, but it should be pretty easy to guess which)
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GOP Rep giving the PI says that parents are trying to seek "retribution", which doesn't exactly seem like the best choice of words on her part, if she wants to convince people! Anyways, amdmt 1836h is adopted 198-187; onto amdmt 1675h, a floor amdmt from Rep. Bordes
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Rep Hoell is speaking against the amendment
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JR Hoell's case he's referencing... that was when he tried treating his kids for COVID with hydroxychloroquinine, right? Or was it ivermectin? (I get the various forsythias mixed up)
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ok yeah it was ivermectin: @ProgressNH/1473793613389869067
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Now speaking: @MikeBordes in favor of amendment 1675h; he's framing it as a bipartisan compromise. It removes sections (t)-(w) from the bill.
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Amendment 1675h is adopted 201-184; we're doing the "reconsider and vote no" dance to lock it in now (which apparently works for amendments, too!)
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Now speaking: Rep. Hynes in favor of his amendment (1886h) to protect the privacy rights of minors
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amendment 1886h is adopted 198-187; now Rep. Hynes is back up for another of his amendments (1907h), which is similar (also about privacy)
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A1907h is adopted by a similar margin (198-187); @RepWilhelm tries his indefinite postponement motion again, but is overridden by Rep. Sweeney's tabling motion.
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To be clear: tabling saves the bill, indefinite postponement kills it
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tabling motion fails 186-199
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saying that bills like this are "targeting" certain groups isn't assigning motive, Rep. Layon; it's just a description of their effects.
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And of course Jason Osborne uses this PI as an opportunity to plug his EFA boondoggle (which he personally benefits from)
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Indefinite Postponement motion passes 195-190; SB272 is dead! Time for our lunch break.
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Speaker Packard sys to be back by 1:15, so I'll aim to be back by 1:10
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oops, screwed that up; looks like I'm missing the division vote on SB267...
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onto bills from HHS; first among them is SB32, relative to the opioid abatement trust fund. Rep. Layon has floor amendment 1833h, which combines the minority amendment (1492h) with HB287, and attempts to clarify the definition of "harm reduction"
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Now speaking: Rep. Nagel, a physician, against Rep. Layon's amendment; he says it strikes "harm reduction" from the bill entirely, rather than defining it better, as Rep. Layon claimed
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amendment fails 152-230; onto the OTP motion on the underlying bill, which passes on voice vote
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Now speaking: Rep. McMahon against the ITL motion on SB85, relative to emergency behavioral health services and behavioral health crisis programs.
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Rep. Layon supports the ITL motion that would kill SB85, on the grounds that the bill goes too far
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ITL motion on SB85 fails 159-223; onto the corresponding OTP motion
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OTP motion on SB85 passes 271-112; I wonder who changed their vote between the ITL vote and the OTP vote, considering that the underlying bill didn't change between them
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Next bill: SB127, relative to certain programs administered by DHHS; passes on voice vote.
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Now under discussion: amendment 1583h to SB200, a bill relative to optometrists. Rep. Polozov is speaking... about something having to do with COVID vaccines? What?
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oh apparently that's what the bill does: it allows optometrists to administer vaccines to adults, with some training and reporting requirements. Seems kinda weird, but whatever, I don't see it as leading to any harm...
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interesting split between libertarians and anti-vaxxers on the GOP side on this bill: on the one hand, it expands freedom, but on the other hand, it's the freedom to vaccinate...
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amendment fails 105-275; onto the underlying bill... which the current person substituting for the Speaker rules passes on voice vote, angering some GOP Reps who called for a division vote
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ok so we redid that voice vote as a division vote, and sure enough, the OTP motion on SB200 passes, 239-141
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Next bill: SB239, relative to the use of harm reduction services to treat alcohol and other substance misuse
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first amendment (1754h) to SB239 is adopted 249-127; there's another amendment (1861h) though...
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apparently there's a difference between "abuse" and "misuse"
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amendment 1861h to SB239 is adopted 359-18; bill as a whole passes on voice vote
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ok time for the other controversial bill of the day: SB263, Medicaid expansion renewal, and the 30-some-odd amendments that have been proposed to it.
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first amendment to SB263: 1910h, a floor amendment from Rep. Layon that extends the program to December of 2029 (so, a six-year sunset), and removes the transfer of funds from the alcohol abuse and treatment fund.
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Rep. Schapiro is speaking against the amendment; our specific Medicaid expansion program is known as "Granite Advantage" btw
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Now Rep. Layon is speaking for her amendment; she's right that Obamacare overly complicated things, btw, but she's wrong about the proper solution: we need true universal healthcare like #MedicareForAll instead.
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Universal healthcare would be better and simpler than our current patchwork system, but instead of cutting things, we need to keep the good parts of our current system around until we can replace it with a single truly universal system.
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A1910h fails 184-192; next is Rep. Cushman's A1864h, which affects the composition of one of the committees/commissions involved in the bill
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1864h fails 181-199
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Next amendment is 1748h from JR Hoell, which has to do with work requirements
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reminder that work requirements don't work
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lol this is just going to be the same PI in response to all 30-something of these amendments, isn't it
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1749h fails 186-193; Rep. motions to table the entire bill (SB263) because apparently we have to be out of here by 4 (due to the Rock-n-Race?)
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this is the part where I get to gloat about being a pedestrian again; road races don't stop me like they do motorists!
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tabling motion fails 185-196... I find it kind of rich that Republicans are portraying this as being "stuck" in Concord, as if that's some sort of punishment for them. If anything it's actually a punishment for us Concord residents to have them stuck here with us.
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Next amendment: 1869h, re: severability of NH Medicaid Expansion and Premium Assistance. Apparently this one has to do with work requirements, too.
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Does serving in the NH Legislature fulfill work requirements?
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1869h fails 184-195; time for ANOTHER tabling motion... are we seriously going to have one of these after every amendment?
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this second tabling motion fails 185-194; next amendment is 1841h
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Next amendment (1841h) is from Rep. Polozov, and requires recipients to receive annual examinations with a PCP, or face benefits being terminated.
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Annual examinations with a PCP are a good idea, but they should only be a strong recommendation, not any sort of mandate, and certainly not any sort of mandate that results in any sort of punishment for the recipients.
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lol I love @LWMcV; she's such a great parliamentarian
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1841h fails 175-199; here comes the third tabling motion...
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my red "no" button is going to get worn out
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3rd tabling motion fails 182-192; remember what all these procedural games Republicans are playing here are about: they're trying to deny healthcare to people.
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next: Spillane's 1890h, it has to do with how substance use disorder treatment hours count as work requirements or not
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don't get where Republicans are getting this idea that "work requirements build self esteem" from; they're degrading and cruel. It's like Calvin's Dad in Calvin & Hobbes constantly claiming that suffering builds character.
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1890h fails 175-194; next is Rep. Hoell's 1750h, which messes with licensure requirements
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why's Rep. Hoell talking about "establishing" or "setting up" a program when this program already exists? People are already benefiting from Medicaid expansion, and Republicans are trying to take that away from them.
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Healthcare is too important of an industry to leave up to the private sector; public health is a public good and should be handled in the public sector
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Rep. Gerhardt is wrong that nothing good comes out of the federal government. Here are some good things it does: - FTC does trustbusting and consumer protection - Department of Labor protects workers - NWS gives us weather reports - IRS keeps rich people from getting too rich
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- Any governmental organization that produces content releases it into the public domain, which is why a lot of the freely available media on Wikimedia Commons is originally from the federal government - Library of Congress archives Twitter (or at least, it used to)
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- HUD helps house people - Medicare & Medicaid help keep people stay healthy - Amtrak provides train service for people who don't have cars or don't want to drive long distances - Social Security helps reduce poverty - EPA holds polluters accountable - Census provides statistics
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looks like that's all I'll have time to list for now; @LWMcV moves to call the previous question, which would limit debate on subsequent amendments to only parliamentary inquiries.
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so first it's "our cars might get stuck in the parking garage if we go late" and now it's "we need to go late to preserve the tradition of debate"... which is it, Republicans? I thought you wanted to get out of here quicker.
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motion to call the previous question passes 196-169; it's Republicans who are losing votes here, not Democrats
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I'm going to try to be briefer with the rest of the amendments, since they're only getting PIs; will just list number and vote total: 1860h fails 175-194
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if you need a summary for any of the rest of the amendments, just substitute "takes away healthcare from people" for my missing summary
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oops I missed the 1748h results; assuming it failed by a similar margin
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1881h fails 176-193
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"Rep. Sweeney requests a roll call" of just give it a rest already; we already know how these are all going
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Going to Employment Security won't help if employers still won't hire you; you can have all the skills in the world and still fail to find a job so long as employment is at-will
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(to be clear, I don't say that to denigrate what Employment Security does; they do the best they can. Rather, my critique is of employers and their arbitrary and capricious hiring processes) ...anyways, 1747h fails 173-194
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oops I missed the 1832h results... I'd assume they were similar
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1857 fails 170-191
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1866h fails; missed the margin, but I'm assuming it was similar
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1867h fails 174-190
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1868h fails 169-190
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1870h fails 167-194
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1871h fails 162-191
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1872h fails one-sixty something to one-ninety something
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1873h fails 164-183
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1897h fails 164-190
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1901h fails 167-193
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1909h fails 163-191; 7 amendments left to go
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wait it looks like we skipped 2? Whatever, I'm not complaining
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1922h fails 160-187; 4(?) amendments left (unless it turns out that we did actually skip some and then decide to return to them)
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amendments related to states of emergency get attached to EVERYTHING
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1923h fails 156-198
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1929h fails 166-190
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I heard a "finally"! I guess those skipped amendments are going to stay skipped
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Final amendment deserves a bit of a special comment, as it attaches cannabis legalization to Medicaid Expansion... which sounds good at first, but attaching it to Medicaid expansion would just lead to both failing, so... unfortunately we're going to have to vote against it...
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1789h fails 118-241, finally, the vote on OTP on the bill as a whole!
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SB263 as a whole passes (unamended) OTP, 193-166; Rep. Cushman does a "print remarks" motion, which I generally support, but in this case, there were so many amendments that doing so here would probably be cost-prohibitive?
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"print remarks" motion fails 172-178; the trees saved by defeating this motion breathe a sigh of relief!
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There's the 3rd reading motion (everything remaining got postponed to a later session day)
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looks like we didn't get any Unanimous Consent speeches today after all; adjourned