Filibuster Record

It’s been obvious for a while, that Republicans would break the record for most filibusters in a session and now they have (or here for a graph or here for the report). And with the session only half over, they’re going to smash the record–woo hoo. The real question is if this will get reported:

This NY Times story talks about it:

The Democrats send out daily tallies of the number of Republican filibusters, which the Democrats say will set a record.

It also explains why so little is getting done in Congress right now. With a crush of legislation pending ahead of the Christmas holiday recess, it should be one of the busiest times of the year.

In addition to holding up a spending deal and setting the terms on the alternative minimum tax, Senate Republicans blocked a major energy bill on Friday. Mr. Reid said Tuesday that he planned to remove a major component that the Republicans opposed in hopes of getting the bill approved.

The Republicans are not shy about their strategy, which they say is merely exercising the minority’s right to filibuster, which has existed since the earliest days of the Senate. Nor are they shy about standing with Mr. Bush, who now threatens almost daily to use his veto to back up the strategy.

But there are also risks. The latest New York Times/CBS News poll found that the stagnation in Congress has made an impression. Just 21 percent of Americans say they have a favorable view of Congress and 64 percent disapprove. And the two parties have been unyielding, calculating that voters will blame the other side.

but notice two very telling bits ‘Democrats say will set a record’ (what, can’t the reporter check and now that they have, I assume this will be up–well, not yet) and ‘the two parties have been unyielding’ (shouldn’t the emphasis be on Republicans since they are blocking bills that would pass with a regular vote?).

Right now, I see nothing about it at the Washington Post. You might think this article would mention it, especially at this point:

This has left many Democrats resorting to openly political arguments, picking up a theme that Republicans hurled at them — obstructionism — during their many years in the minority.

where it would make the Democrats’ argument much more reasonable, since the Republicans now are the most obstructionist in history, but no.

Hmm, this editorial in the Post does mention it:

FOR CONGRESSIONAL Democrats, the first session of the 110th Congress offered a sobering lesson in the practical limits of majority control. Democrats delivered part of what they had promised to the voters who returned them to power last November and recorded some significant achievements. But more often, Democrats found their legislative plans stymied — first by Senate Republicans’ willingness to filibuster any proposal with which they disagreed, then by the president’s newfound zeal to exercise his veto power. The scorecard, in the end, is disappointingly mixed. Still, Democrats are more to blame for overpromising than for failing to deliver; their triumphant promises of January were never realistic. Given the slenderest of Senate majorities and the willingness of the minority to wield the filibuster with unprecedented frequency, Democrats’ maneuvering room was dramatically limited.