POISON PILL

This classic means of sabotage is an amendment to a bill which is so objectionable that even a bill's supporters would vote against it if the poison pill makes it into the final version. Senator Byrd offered a brilliant poison pill amendment during the Border Security Bill debate shown in Story 2: Mountains & Clouds. It was brilliant because it was almost impossible to oppose-- it banned importing goods made by slave labor in China. At the same time, it would have opened such a can of worms in terms of trade agreements that no Senator wanted to touch it. The only option was to convince Senator Byrd to withdraw the amendment without making anyone take a vote on it.

Clip from Story 9: Protecting Arizona

In this clip: Senator Kennedy and his staff discuss their strategy to stop a set of upcoming gun bills-- should they use the same poison pills they used last time?

Next Term: UNANIMOUS CONSENT