jct74
07-06-2011, 12:05 AM
interesting article
Freshman Republican senators go guerilla
By SCOTT WONG | 7/5/11 11:29 PM EDT
Politico.com
Six months into their first term, a band of Republican freshmen are fed up with the tortoise pace of the Senate and have resorted to guerrilla warfare to take on the establishment — and it’s causing headaches for leaders of both parties.
Sen. Ron Johnson, who unseated Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold last November, mounted a protest last week against Democrats’ failure to produce a budget — an effort that culminated Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was forced to yank a bipartisan Libya resolution from the floor.
Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky firebrand and tea-party favorite, warned this weekend he would filibuster in an attempt to pry open closed-door debt ceiling negotiations.
And a key reason that the Senate is in session during what should be the chamber’s Fourth of July recess? Freshman GOP senators, including Johnson, Paul, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Marco Rubio of Florida, threatened a recess revolt that would force both parties to take an embarrassing vote to skip town.
The new breed of troublemaker creates problems for Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They must now deal with an unpredictable, angst-ridden crowd uninterested in the pay-your-dues tradition of the Senate at the same time they’re engaged in tense negotiations over the debt ceiling.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58375.html
Freshman Republican senators go guerilla
By SCOTT WONG | 7/5/11 11:29 PM EDT
Politico.com
Six months into their first term, a band of Republican freshmen are fed up with the tortoise pace of the Senate and have resorted to guerrilla warfare to take on the establishment — and it’s causing headaches for leaders of both parties.
Sen. Ron Johnson, who unseated Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold last November, mounted a protest last week against Democrats’ failure to produce a budget — an effort that culminated Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was forced to yank a bipartisan Libya resolution from the floor.
Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky firebrand and tea-party favorite, warned this weekend he would filibuster in an attempt to pry open closed-door debt ceiling negotiations.
And a key reason that the Senate is in session during what should be the chamber’s Fourth of July recess? Freshman GOP senators, including Johnson, Paul, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Marco Rubio of Florida, threatened a recess revolt that would force both parties to take an embarrassing vote to skip town.
The new breed of troublemaker creates problems for Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They must now deal with an unpredictable, angst-ridden crowd uninterested in the pay-your-dues tradition of the Senate at the same time they’re engaged in tense negotiations over the debt ceiling.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58375.html