Whip it good
Sen. Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, will be the Republican whip in the Senate when it convenes next year. To help him, he’s appointed a passel of deputy whips, including North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr.
What does a whip do? The job varies from group to group, but in general the whip is the part of a legislative organization that is the enforcer of party discipline and counter of votes. Basically, the whip figures out if party leaders have the votes to do something it wants to do. And if the votes aren’t there, it’s typically the whips that are sent to, um, explain things to the problematic members.
If you’re counting at home, there are 49 Republican Senators in the new Congress. Lott has appointed a chief deputy and seven other deputy whips. So that’s about six members per member of the whip organization.
That’s a lot of discipline right there.
Sen. Richard Durbin will be the majority whip in the new Senate. I’ve not seen hop many deputies he’s appointed.
Update: Speaking of Burr, how many successes like this can a guy take:
Nearly two years of negotiation on a bill to fight bioterrorism ended in a partial win for North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr — the Senate approved the measure, but it will probably die within days when Congress adjourns.