Dean Skelos' NYS Senate leadership partner Jeff Klein tried to use the bill of Skelos' GOP caucus partner, Marty Golden, to get Govermor Cuomo's abortion bill through the State Senate
All of the behind the scenes jockeying is not yet public, but Dean Skelos' leadership partner Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, tried to attach Cuomo’s abortion plank to another health-related bill brought by Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) (See "Sheldon Silver Does Not Rule Out Taking Up Women's Equality Bills Individually" by Glenn Blain, 6/21/13 [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/06/sheldon-silver-does-not-rule-out-taking-up-womens-equality-bills-individually]).
The Klein measure was defeated only when Bronx Democratic State Senator Ruben Diaz, largely a family values conservative, joined with the united Republican conference and voted to defeat the motion to tack abortion onto Golden's bill.
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BACKFILL: Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein used a procedural method to force a vote on a measure to codify Roe v.Wade and other rights in New York’s out-of-date abortion laws. After a mysterious, six-hour delay to the State Senate's scheduled session Klein moved to make a "hostile amendment" to a bill scheduled for reading and then debate (See "By 1 vote, Senate blocks amendment on abortion" by Jon Campbell, 6/21/13, Politics on the Hudson [http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2013/06/21/by-1-vote-senate-blocks-amendment-on-abortion/]).
Klein, D-Bronx, proposed the so-called “hostile amendment” on the Senate floor, essentially trying to change a bill sponsored by State Senator Golden just as it was being put up for debate. The Klein amendment was specifically intended to introduce the abortion language from Cuomo's 10-point Women’s Equality Act, which was passed by the Assembly Friday, as an amendment to Golden's bill.
The use of a "hostile amendment" to a bill scheduled to be read is an occasionally used but rarely successful strategy to bring an issue to a vote, and it’s the first time Klein has attempted it since becoming senate co-leader along with Republican Dean Skelos. Klein’s amendment was ruled germane by State Senator Diane Savino, also like Klein an IDC Demoocrat, who was presiding over the chamber. However, Senate Deputy Republican Leader Thomas Libous appealed the decision to the entire chamber, and 32 senators—the bare minimum needed—voted that Klein's amendment to the Golden was "non-germane"; and that's how Klein's amendment failed. The vote was largely along party lines, with the exception of two Democrats who voted against the amendment, State Senators Ruben Diaz of the Bronx, a pro-life minister, and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, who caucuses with the Republicans. Needless to say the two Democrat votes provided the margin to defeat the move by the senate co-leader and leader of the IDC Democrats.
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