and law school graduate currently serving his second tour of duty as the senate parliamentarian. in theory, it is him who will decide which aspects of a revived health care bill can stay in it if the democrats seek to enact the legislation through reck sill reconciliation. mr. frunin s moment in the sun comes because the democrats cannot muster the 60 votes they need. to circumvent that obstacle, the democrats, as you were just discussing, are pondering reconciliation, a kind of legislative two-step only supposed to be used on senate rules, and it is the parliamentarian who takes the scalpel to those provisions that affects policy first and the budget on the incidentally. however, his predecessor, bob dove, the only other individual to serve in this job since 1981, told msnbc this morning that the president of the senate, vice president joe biden, is not bound to accept the parliamentarian s rulings.
eliminated. well, kent conrad doesn t decide that. the man who decide ifs the provisions meet that requirement is the senate parliamentarian. robert dove held that position for 27 years. we were just learning a couple of fascinating facts about this. you re joining us now, bob dove. apparently it takes almost a decade from appointment to actually becoming senate parliamentarian. explain, very quickly. you were appointed in i was appointed in 1996. and became parliamentarian? after 14 years. we thought med school was bad. so a 14-year apprenticeship? yes. it takes a while to master the senate rules and procedures, particularly as they have become more complicated over the years. you were appointed by a democratic i was appointed when senator mansfield was the majority leader and senator dirkson. you took over when the republicans were in charge? in 1981.