Tempers Flare as New Rules Strain Senate

By JEREMY W. PETERS, NYT

WASHINGTON — If there is a rock bottom in the frayed relationship between Senate Republicans and Democrats, it seemed uncomfortably close as the final days of 2013 on Capitol Hill degenerated into something like an endurance contest to see who could be the most spiteful.

Thursday brought the week’s second late-night session — called by Democrats as a way of retaliating for Republicans’ delaying tactics on confirmations — and before the senators headed in for the votes, they were chugging Red Bull or sleeping in their offices, and angrily assigning blame.

“I think it resembles fourth graders playing in a sandbox, and I’ll give the majority leader, Harry Reid, 99 percent of the responsibility for it,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and usually one of the more reserved members.

“He’s going to have ‘The End of the Senate’ written on his tombstone,” Mr. Alexander complained.

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