The late-night sessions forced by Senate Republicans this week as payback to Democrats for changing the chamber’s filibuster rules is pretty juvenile, one GOP member admitted. But it’s all Harry Reid’s fault.
“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,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said, as quoted by the New York Times. “He’s going to have ‘The End of the Senate’ written on his tombstone.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) first led the GOP’s revenge on Wednesday when the minority party announced its intention to use up all of its debate time on the nomination of Nina Pillard to the D.C. Court of Appeals, a move that simply delayed the inevitable. Pillard was confirmed in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
Friday morning marked the end of the second consecutive late-night session in the Senate.
McConnell used the same language as Alexander back in July when Democrats were flirting with the idea of employing the so-called “nuclear option” and changing the filibuster rules, something that didn’t come to fruition until late last month.
“No majority leader wants written on his tombstone that he presided over the end of the Senate,” McConnell said. “Well, if this majority leader caves to the fringes and lets this happen, I’m afraid that’s exactly what they’ll write.”
