If you’ve been paying attention at all to this session of Congress, you know that things are bad. Democrats don’t seem to realize that they have the biggest majority they have ever had, ever. Republicans are far better at behaving like a 2-year-old who’s postponed their bedtime for a bit too long than actually presenting reasonable alternatives. Like the kind they’re always bleating about.
And then there’s the Senate. The filibuster, that piece of procedure that allows one person to bring proceedings to a grinding halt, in theory protecting us all from the tyranny of the majority, has been used at least 154 times in this session of the Senate. It tends to get the filibusteree’s name in the papers.
Take, for example, Senator Jim “Oh hai! Iz an obstructionist dickwad!” Bunning. Senator Bunning has decided to take a “stand” against extending unemployment benefits, including COBRA benefits and Medicare payments, apparently just because he can. This has been going on since last Thursday.
“One single Republican senator is standing in the way of unemployment benefits for 400,000 Americans,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said on the Senate floor. She said Bunning’s stand is also blocking COBRA health insurance benefits to 500,000 Americans, forcing doctors to take a 21 percent cut on Medicare reimbursement rates and preventing the extension of critical highway funds.
“One single Republican senator has put posturing before people, politics before families and point-scoring before the needs of struggling Americans,” she said. “The American people are sick of this, and the backlash to the blockage of this bill is evidence of that.”
Not only is Sen. Bunning angering Senate Democrats, he is proving to be an embarrassment to his own party as well.
Bunning objected to a request from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to pass a 30-day extension of the measures, then defended his stand in a debate with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). Other Republicans sought to use the Senate’s morning business period to change the subject, but several Democrats hammered away at Bunning’s use of Senate rules to prevent approval of the stopgap legislation since Thursday.
Yes, and Sen. Collins isn’t the only Republican who’s angry about this. Honestly, the man should be ashamed of himself, even if he’s older than my dad and isn’t running for reelection. He truly doesn’t care about the rest of his party and their chances in November.
On second thought, keep it up Senator Bunning. November is getting closer every minute.
UPDATE: Yesterday afternoon Sen. Bunning finally gave up, the bill finally came up for a vote, and (surprise, surprise) passed by 78-19.





