An example of what can happen on the floor of the Senate due to its loose procedural rules. Republican opponents of Obama's recent decision to require health insurance companies to provide birth control coverage - even if the employees work for institutions affiliated with the Catholic Church - has led proposals to insert language allowing for employees to opt out of such coverage id they have moral objections to it.
Its called the Blunt Amendment after its sponsor - Senator Roy Blunt R-Missouri.
See the text here.
Here's a suggestion that Obama has been hoping for this fight for some time in order to drive a wedge within the Republican Party. For 2301s this fits the theme of this weeks class. How do issues divide factions - especially majority factions - into smaller groups? There are also suggestions that this has been intended to give Santorum an issue he can use to rally his supporters against Romney. Romney proposed similar rules while governors of Massachusetts.
Assuming this issue has legs, we ought to watch how it is spun, some see it as a religious liberty issue (which is good for Republicans) and others see it as a women's health / birth control issue (which is good for Democrats).
