A clash in wording led the Government of the Student Body to defeat a bill at Wednesday’s senate meeting. The bill would have changed the way the senate allocates money for its own purposes.

Currently, financing from the Senate Discretionary Account requires a simple-majority vote for approval. This bill would have made allocations “for the primary and/or sole benefit of the GSB” require two-thirds of senate approval.

The intent, said Jonathon Weaver, author of the bill, was to force senators to think about the process in which they give themselves money.

“GSB feels that funding other student organizations should take priority over spending money on itself,” the bill states.

However, the merits of the bill were not discussed on the senate floor. Since the constitution states that all students are members of GSB, some senators argued that all GSB financing benefits all students.

Several amendments were proposed and defeated to improve the wording of the bill to comply with the GSB constitution.

Some senators cited the good intentions of the bill but said it could not be passed because of the blurred boundaries of “the sole benefit of GSB.”

In addition, the bill did not specify who would pass judgment on whether financing from the Discretionary Account would be for the primary benefit of GSB.

“Not a single argument against the merits of the bill was made this evening,” said Weaver, TRA. “If you have a problem with the bill, argue against the bill or make the bill better.”

Prior to the meeting, GSB President Matt Craft gave the only argument against the bill’s content.

He said that since GSB can get supplementary funds from the Discretionary Account, senators don’t ask for as much money in the Finance Committee allocation process, which runs on a much tighter budget.

He said if the bill had been approved, GSB may have had to request more money through the Finance Committee, putting a strain on money for other student organizations.

Craft added that no student group’s funding from the Discretionary Account had ever been cut due to financial limitations.