Just a short diary to clear something up:
Several people (including me) have been asking why the option of a Discharge Petition has not been floated to bring a clean CR bill to the floor of the House despite the Speaker's attempts to block it.
We have seen this floated for the Immigration Bill earlier this year. We saw it of the middle class tax cuts, jobless benefits and other legislative options.
So, I did some research to see why this isn't on the table and the short answer is it cannot be used on this Continuing Resolution.
Details to back this up below the fold
1. A discharge petition can only be brought up after a measure has sat in committee for 30 legislative days without being reported.
1a. Unless it is a measure that can be classified as a "special rule" per the Rules Committee, in which case it can be discharged after 7 legislative days.
2. If the discharged bill relates to the budget, it requires that it immediately be referred to the Committee of the Whole, which is essentially the entire house, whereby the Speaker appoints a session "chair" (traditionally a member that does not hold any other chairman positions on any committee) to manage a full and open amendment process (which means in this case that the Tea Baggers will just re-amend it to defund/delay Obamacare)
3. A discharge petition is just that: A Petition, not a bill or vote. Representatives have to SIGN it and it sits as pending until enough signatures are added or the calendar year ends at which time all pending petitions are voided. Once enough signatures are gathered, the bill in question is automatically put on the Discharge Calendar which has priority as "special business" on the second and fourth Monday of each month. It does not mean it comes to floor immediately, unless the Speaker chooses to bring it up.
4. Note: If a discharge petition is successfully brought but the bill is defeated anyway, no further discharge petitions can be used on any bill of the same subject matter for the rest of the year.