Enlighten me please....what happens with a tie vote in the

[capaylib]

house?

[thefloyd]

1. I believe

Hassert breaks the tie I am not sure however

[jobycom]

2. Hassert votes with the body, so he's not a tiebreaker. nt.

[thefloyd]

3. Duh

I got confused. I believe the Vice President breaks the tie

[ISUGRADIA]

7. VP can break ties only in the Senate not the House

[thefloyd]

9. well forget it anyways

looks like I was right the first time

[jobycom]

5. Ooops, looks like I'm wrong, though it's a customary thing.

The Speaker is a voting member of the House but customarily only votes in the case of a tie. " it is customary for the Speaker not to vote, unless his vote is necessary to pass a bill."

So he's not barred from voting, but I guess he functions as a tiebreaker.

http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives

[capaylib]

8. We may jump to conclusions, but at least we jump fast:

[jobycom]

12. And we correct when we are wrong--notice the diff from the other party?

:-)

[capaylib]

4. Got the answer, got to love the internets!

What happens in the event of a tie vote in Congress? If the tie vote is in the Senate, and the Vice-President is not there to break it -- what is the outcome? Hinsdale, IL - 5/3/00

A tie vote means the proposition loses, whether it be in the House, Senate, on the floor, or in committee. Only the Vice-President has the authority under the Constitution to break a tie vote, and only on the Senate floor. Of course, he would only need to come to the Senate to do that if the Administration favored the proposition. In that case, he would vote aye, tipping the scales from 50-50 to 51-50, if all Senators were present and voting. If the Administration opposed the matter, then his vote would be unnecessary. If the vote were tied, say 50-50, the matter would lose anyway.

on edit: okay senate....still looking for congress...just like me to jump the gun.

on second edit: forget first edit, it is in there. The bill would have been defeated, provided Republican's didn't jump ship.

[jobycom]

6. So then in the House the Speaker could vote to block passage by

making a vote a tie, though the article I noted above seems to say that he would only vote to pass a bill. Though that's custom, not law. I guess.

[Neil Lisst]

10. a tie vote fails to gain passage of whatever it was ...

A matter must win a majority voting with a quorum present, whatever that number is. If it ties after the votes are all in, including the speaker's, then the matter does not pass and the vote fails.

[capaylib]

11. Thank you for confirming my third interpretation of what I read.

Speed reading isn't an effective tool for everyone. Thank all of you for helping me work this out in my head.

Am I naive to think that if Boswell and Towns would have showed the bill would have been defeated? We will never know and the two congressman are going to have hell to pay! I want to believe that their presence would have changed the outcome to a tie, because believing otherwise would mean the whole system is a farce. That maybe true, but I don't want to believe it.

[Neil Lisst]

13. It makes sense when you think about it.

The burden of the vote is on whoever is seeking to change the status quo, whatever it is.