Cooped-up senators turn cranky
By: Manu Raju
Politico.com
December 20, 2009
Senators are suffering from cabin fever — and it has nothing to do with the snowstorm that socked Washington over the weekend.
A marathon session of early-morning, late-night and weekend votes — all coming after senators are typically home for the holidays — has everyone on edge in the cooped-up Capitol, with testy exchanges and harsh recriminations replacing the clubby decorum that usually prevails in the Senate.
Republicans fumed last week when Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) revealed the contents of a private conversation with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) in a fiercely critical speech on the floor. Democrats boiled over when Republicans forced them to bring in the ailing Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) for a 1 a.m. cloture vote on defense spending.
“It’s been brutal,” Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said, adding that the intense year-end push has created a “very high” level of distrust between members from different parties.
(More here.)
Politico.com
December 20, 2009
Senators are suffering from cabin fever — and it has nothing to do with the snowstorm that socked Washington over the weekend.
A marathon session of early-morning, late-night and weekend votes — all coming after senators are typically home for the holidays — has everyone on edge in the cooped-up Capitol, with testy exchanges and harsh recriminations replacing the clubby decorum that usually prevails in the Senate.
Republicans fumed last week when Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) revealed the contents of a private conversation with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) in a fiercely critical speech on the floor. Democrats boiled over when Republicans forced them to bring in the ailing Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) for a 1 a.m. cloture vote on defense spending.
“It’s been brutal,” Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said, adding that the intense year-end push has created a “very high” level of distrust between members from different parties.
(More here.)
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