Levels of Power Page 11

  Avery shook his head. “I’m letting Candy have the honors on that one.” Candy DuPont was the Republican senator and the minority whip from North Dakota, up for reelection next year. The forty-seven year-old married mother of two girls possessed a strong work ethic, likeable personality, and high level of respect in the Senate and thought to have an easy path to reelection from the voters in her home state.

  Avery Doaks noticed Vice President Jimmy Diamond enter the Senate Chamber from the set of wooden double doors to the right of the rostrum. He was about to walk back to his own bench. “I see the vice president has decided to make an appearance. Probably the president wants to make sure we do a good job of introducing his bill into the record today.”

  Tom could not stop from needling his opposite number. “Perhaps he’s worried his own party members in the Senate might not want to support this questionable piece of legislation.”

  Avery laid his right hand on Tom’s shoulder, the smile remaining on his face. “Come on, Tom. The country expects you to play nice with everybody, and that includes the president. Besides, you’ve already told the press you would not stop the bill from going to the finance committee.”

  Tom smiled back at Doaks. “I’m a man of my word. Fair Share will go to committee. I will only voice my disapproval of the bill when and if it comes back to the Senate floor for a vote. I will not use any influence to bury the bill in committee.”

  Avery nodded and moved away toward his bench seat as Jimmy Diamond brought the gavel down hard on its wooden base to bring the chamber to order. The vice president of the United States held the position of president of the Senate, a largely ceremonial position granted under the Constitution. He only had voting privileges if the Senate’s vote on any legislation ended in a tie.

  Jimmy Diamond was a former governor of Florida and had been the vice president for less than one year. The president had selected him after the former vice president resigned over disagreements with Miller.

  For the next fifteen minutes, the Senate went through the daily opening procedures for each session. Under the rules, several discussions about old business rose to the floor, but the assembly discussed nothing major that consumed much time.

  The only new piece of legislation scheduled for today’s session was the president’s Fair Share Bill. The schedule for introduction was at or about eleven thirty. The bill would receive an abbreviated first reading by Senator Candy DuPont. Once receiving the required seconding, the chamber would vote to assign the bill to the finance committee. Afterward, the Senate would recess for lunch. At the expected time, Candy DuPont rose from her bench seat and requested the floor from Vice President Diamond.

  Diamond stood behind the raised desk and pointed the gavel toward the woman from North Dakota. “Senator DuPont has the floor.”

  The members of the press were scribbling the details leading up the introduction of the bill in their notebooks. Would the president’s legislation hit a roadblock from the Democratic-controlled United States Senate?

  Candy DuPont waited for two heartbeats and began her prepared remarks. “Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, it is with great pleasure that I introduce into this chamber a new piece of legislation that finally corrects a terrible injustice to all tax-paying middle-class Americans. Each year these millions of Americans dig deep into their financial pockets to pay their fair share of taxes that fund the operation of our government, military, Social Security, and Medicare and provide for the continued security and stability of the American way of life.

  “For years, many American and foreign companies have failed to pay their fair share of the taxes used to provide them a stable government and risk-free environment in our country for their businesses to grow and thrive. All any person has to do is look back into history and see how many other companies have lost ownership and control of their investments to friendly governments that suddenly changed to a dictatorship.

  “This bill addresses the loopholes in our current tax system by requiring any company, American or foreign, operating in the United States with retail sales in excess of fifty million dollars, to pay a quarter of one percent in a new federal income tax. It is fair and a responsible move by our government to ask these companies that makes hundreds of millions of dollars from the sales of their products to American citizens to pay their fair share.

  “In addition, the new revenue received from the Corporate America Fair Share Tax Bill will be directed exclusively toward the reduction of our federal deficit, further ensuring our government remains financially stable and provides a prosperous future for our citizens and future generations of Americans.”

  Candy DuPont stood tall at her desk, her feet planted firmly to support her slender five-foot-two frame. She held the papers containing her speech in both hands and used her left hand to push her glasses up farther on the bridge of her nose. She paused in her delivery to allow her fellow senators to hear her closing remarks with perfect clarity.

  “This bill is asking for only a quarter of one percent—a quarter of one percent! Our average middle-income taxpayers hand over between twenty-seven and thirty-five percent of their annual household income. Most of it comes right out of their paychecks before they even see it. Now we want businesses to pay their Fair Share. Thank you, senators, for your time and consideration of this important piece of legislation.”

  Candy sat down. The bill was out on the floor, and she was waiting for Avery Doaks to offer a second to her bill. After a quick vote by the membership, the legislation would be on its way to the Senate Finance Committee.

  Vice President Jimmy Diamond shifted his eyes from the far side of the chamber where Candy DuPont was sitting toward the center of the room and Avery Doaks. The minority leader, still seated, was preparing to rise from his bench seat. He would simply say, “I second the measure, Mr. President.”

  As Jimmy moved his eyes toward Doaks, a hand rose from the Republican side of the Senate from the back of the room. “Mr. President, may I have the floor?” The other Republican senator from Virginia, Cameron Saunders, stood at his desk, asking to be recognized.

  Jimmy hesitated for several seconds. When any new piece of legislation first reached the Senate or the House of Representatives for the initial reading, it normally proceeded under a very controlled process, all the details worked out far in advance. For a young senator to ask for the floor during this crucial time was slightly unusual.

  Diamond looked at the freshman senator and assumed he wanted to get his name into the official Senate records for supporting the legislation. Seeing no harm, he looked over to Doaks and then back to Senator Saunders. “The chair recognizes the junior senator from Virginia.”

  Avery Doaks settled back on his bench seat and turned his head slightly to more easily hear the new senator state his seconding of the bill.

  Chip Saunders felt a nervous tremor run across his shoulder blades. He stole a quick look at Senators John Laird and Roberta Hanley, both seated to his left and right. Part of their coalition had been born from their close seating proximity in the Senate Chamber.

  “Mr. President, I rise today to voice my protest against this piece of legislation that proposes to apply a new tax against American business—a tax that is unfair and unjust. I was voted into this respected chamber by an over whelming number of citizens in my state that have adopted a policy—no new taxes. No way. No how. For me to allow this piece of legislation to be further introduced into the Senate, where it is expected to be quickly passed by the membership and allowed to become the law of the land would be a violation of the pledge I swore to adopt and support. I’m afraid this process can’t be allowed to be continue.”

  All heads in the Senate suddenly shifted to look at the forty-two-year old senator from Virginia. Saunders was dressed in an expensive dark blue suit, white shirt, and red striped tie. His face, topped by perfectly combed dark blond hair, projected a look of sincerity an
d confidence.

  He waited until the noise in the Senate Chamber quieted down enough to allow him to proceed. “I am, at this time, prepared to stop the Senate from proceeding any further with discussion of this bill.”

  Avery Doaks was out of his chair immediately. “Will the senator yield the floor to at least allow the bill to be seconded?”

  The other senators held their breath to hear the response from Saunders.

  Chip Saunders knew this was when the proverbial crap was going to hit the fan. “No, Senator, I will not yield the floor to allow the bill to be seconded and proceed to committee. This bill stays right here. It should never had been introduced in the first place.”

  Chapter 20

  Washington, DC

  Monday, November 30, 2015

  4:00 p.m.

  Filibuster! The word alone sent reporters scrambling from the Senate Chamber to their camera operators and whipping out their cell phones to blast out the news. Only in the United States Senate can a minority of senators prevent the advancement of legislation they feel is wrong for the country.

  A filibuster could go on forever under the current Senate rules, until it received a successful vote of cloture. The procedure required a favorable vote from a three-fifths majority, or sixty senators, to stop a filibuster. Prior to the 112th Congress, the filibuster and cloture process was used an extreme number of times when Republicans and Democrats failed repeatedly to agree on issues before the Senate.

  At the end of the 111th congressional term in 2012, Leonard Graham, the Republican Speaker of the House from Pennsylvania, retired. He had lost his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination to Harold Miller. In 2013, the newly elected Speaker, Lawrence Frye, spoke passionately of how the House of Representatives would enter a new era of bipartisanship between Republicans and Democrats and with the Senate.

  After the near-disaster of the nuclear event in South Carolina was narrowly avoided and Randy Fisher’s appointment to replace retiring Senator Robert Moore of the same state, a new desire to work together came to the Senate. Some members gave credit to Fisher and others to the national security event in the Palmetto State, but a majority of senators and members of the press credited the combination of both events. It had been some time since the Senate had faced a new filibuster.

  For four hours, Senator Saunders listed the reasons for his stubborn refusal to release the Senate floor to any other person. When he completed the list, he simply started over at the beginning and repeated the same list of reasons again.

  Senator Roberta L. Hanley rose from her bench seat and asked if Senator Saunders would yield the floor. This was the eighth or ninth attempt by other senators to wrestle the Senate floor away from Saunders, and the members were surprised by Saunders’s response.

  “I yield the floor to Senator Hanley from the great state of Florida.”

  The ambient noise level in the Senate increased as members turned in their chair to look at Hanley or closed a newspaper or magazine they were reading. How had the forty-six-year-old woman convinced her friend to yield the floor?

  Handley picked up her notepad. “Thank you, Senator Saunders. Like you, I too signed a pledge to never vote to raise taxes. In support of the pledge, I offer you my support to refuse to allow the Fair Share Bill to proceed to committee.”

  The audible groan throughout the Senate Chamber almost overshadowed the voice of Roberta Hanley as she began with the same list of reasons to stop any further progress of the bill to further tax retail sales of corporations conducting business in the United States.

  With Hanley now holding the Senate, Chip Saunders walked off the floor to use the men’s facilities. Proper decorum allowed him to take about one step outside the restroom before Avery Doaks was standing in front of the younger senator.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Doaks demanded of his Republican brother.

  Chip Saunders quickly stepped around the older senator and took a bottle of water from one of his staffers, who had been waiting for his exit from the restroom. Saunders calmly ignored the hard look from the Senate minority leader, twisted off the plastic cap, and took a small sip of water. His throat was dry, and the cold water provided quick relief. He wanted to remain properly hydrated but not consume too much water; that would create a problem for him during his next shift on the Senate floor.

  Doaks was fuming. “Son, I asked you a question, and I expect an answer right now.”

  Saunders twisted the cap back onto the water bottle. “I will be happy to provide your answer as soon as I have refreshed my throat.” He spoke without any disrespect in his tone of voice. He did not want to cause further hard feelings than he had already.

  Doaks looked at the other people in the hallway outside the men’s restroom. He looked at his own staffer, Harry Donaldson. “Harry, clear out the nearest room so Senator Saunders and I can have a private word together.”

  Two minutes later Doaks and Saunders were alone in a small conference room off the Senate Chamber. Doaks was about to repeat his question when the door burst open and Candy DuPont blew into the room. Her face was red with anger, her shoulder-length hair slightly mussed.

  “I can’t believe you would stab me in the back with this … this filibuster. Do you have any idea how hard we have worked over the last few years to avoid this kind of crap? Any idea how this looks to the American people and the press?”

  Avery Doaks never allowed Saunders to speak. “If you had a problem with the bill that you felt so strongly about that you needed to resort to this type of tactic, why didn’t you come forward and say something before we were on the Senate floor?”

  Saunders used the time before he answered their questions to take two steps toward the heavy wood conference table and rest one hip on the shiny surface. He looked to Avery and back to Candy, trying to decide which question to respond to first. “If I had voiced my concerns and told you I would not allow this bill to proceed, you would have both used your Senate authority to keep me from speaking on the floor. I am sorry about ambushing you like this, but I know how things can work around here, and this was the only way. This bill went through the House like an out-of-control freight train not because a majority of representatives truly favored the bill but because they were afraid to vote against it. Either the president would have done everything in his powers to hurt them in the press or he would have gone on national TV and told the people of their districts they were siding with big business. They were afraid and simply caved in to the pressure from the White House.”

  Avery Doaks stepped away from Saunders to circle the conference room until he was back in the nearly same position. During the time required to do so, he realized Saunders was not using the filibuster to fuel some ego trip. The thought allowed him to cool down, but the look on DuPont’s face showed she was far from satisfied by Saunders response.

  Doaks took a position next to the minority whip and placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Looking toward Saunders, he asked his next question. “How long do you and Senator Hanley think you can hold the floor?”

  Saunders could not keep a small smile from his face. Still keeping any tone of disrespect out of his voice, he gave them a simple answer. “What makes you think Rickie and I are the only senators who have joined this filibuster?”

  Chapter 21

  Washington, DC

  Monday, November 30, 2015

  4:30 p.m.

  President of the United States Harold Miller pressed the “off” button on the television remote; the face of CNN senior news anchor Barry Cooper faded from the screen. He had just watched the news network’s coverage of the events in the United States Senate. The highly rated news program had allocated a full thirty minutes to coverage of the filibuster, with reports from Karen Phillips, senior congressional reporter, and David Hope, senior White House reporter.

  The president looked at
the people in the room. Vice President Jimmy Diamond was back from the Senate, allowing the president pro tem to take over the chamber in his absent. He was sitting in a straight leather club chair in front of the president’s Resolute desk.

  Next to him, in an exact copy of his chair, sat Alison Warden, starting to feel the anger from her boss. Behind the president, Warren Fletcher stood with his arms folded, looking at the pair in the chairs.

  The president looked at his vice president. “How did this happen? How did we not know that bastard from Virginia was going to block our own bill?”

  Diamond never waived. Unlike the others in the room, he had no fear of the president or his temper. He was not up for reelection next year like Miller. As part of his deal to come on board as the new vice president, the seventy-two-year-old former governor told the president in their first meeting that he would only accept the position for the two years left in Miller’s first term of office. At his age, he did not want the stress of the job to kill him off sooner than necessary and the mild diabetes he controlled with oral medication must not get worse. The president and Jimmy agreed that the former governor would provide the president with a candidate the Senate would confirm, allowing Miller two years to find a new person to run as his VP candidate for his second term.

  Keeping his tone of voice calm and respectful, Diamond answered the president’s question. “Sir, I’m of course sorry for the problem. Had I known in advance the senator from Virginia was going to pull this stunt, I would not have recognized him. I really didn’t think it was going to be a problem.”

  Miller was still fuming. “Why didn’t you go back to Doaks for the second? It was what we planned for in the first place.”

  Jimmy looked the president directly in his eyes. “I thought it would look better if we had someone besides Doaks offer to second the bill. In addition, Saunders was on the list of senators in favor of passage. This list was prepared by our own legislative affairs people, so I thought there was no risk of a problem.”