Are they getting their naps in? The older I get, the more I appreciate the concept of napping.
(H/T: Don Surber) The two Democratic branches of Congress aren’t precisely happy with each other right now:
Reid, Pelosi Swearing Match Over Omnibus
After an angry, swearing late night meeting among top Democrats, Congress voted Friday to give itself another five days to try to complete a long-overdue omnibus spending bill that had become a growing embarrassment for party leaders and President Barack Obama.
Senate Democrats had abruptly pulled back Thursday night after finding themselves one vote short of the 60 needed to cut off debate. The action infuriated Speaker Nancy Pelosi so much that the California Democrat wanted to abandon the $409.6 billion measure and instead push through a stripped-down continuing resolution to keep the government operating through Sept. 30.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) and his deputy, Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D.-Ill.) were called to Pelosi’s office late Thursday night and ultimately prevailed in their argument that Democrats should try to salvage the bill, which includes critical spending increases for vital agencies. But the heated, sometimes profane, exchanges were described as “ugly” by Democrats on both sides of the Capitol. Staff, kicked out in the hall, could hear the yelling, and Pelosi herself seemed a little abashed the next day, joking that nothing her leadership could say to her now would match the night before.
The problem here is that the Speaker of the House is just a little too used to her current setup, which permits her to dictate whatever legislation that she, or a small coterie of her creatures, pleases (which is one reason why Cantor annoys her so). Reid is in a harder position, given a) the nature of the Senate and b) his own glaring incompetence, which turns even the easiest procedural votes into epic amateur theater; to put it very weirdly
Don’t read too much into this, of course: they may be contemptuous of each other by now, but they absolutely hate us. So they’ll unite against a common enemy at need. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun with this anyway: because I can’t imagine that Harry Reid is the only person out there in government who’s getting tired of the House of Representatives being run as a personal fiefdom…
Crossposted to RedState.