kane

Technically yes, however, one party often adds things to a bill just for political gain knowing it won't pass. For example, several years ago there was some kind of spending bill that was up. It was filled with pork and junk spending. One of the provisions added to it was that it would supply some money for more bullet proof vests for soldiers. John Kerry voted against it. He voted against it because he thought it was a bad bill. The amendment for more body armor was just one of hundreds of pork amendments in the bill.

So then when Kerry is running for president the republicans roll out the ads talking about how he voted against funding for body armor for our troops. So technically it was correct, but it was not really all that accurate. There have been other similar bills. There was another one that the democrats put up that had a ton of pork spending in it and one amendment for more ammo for the troops. It got voted down and the democrats went on the offensive saying that republicans are blocking funding for ammo for our troops.

So the democrats wanted this procedure so that there could be none of these last minute amendments added to the bill that would force them to vote against them and make them look bad.