Breaking Point

So it's happening. Nuclear warfare has erupted... But it's not in the Middle East. Rather, it's happening on Capitol Hill.

Remember the many fights that became slow, tortuous death matches once a filibuster was invoked and sustained? Even more of them have been occurring in the US Senate in recent days, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Patience) has finally had it.

Today, Senator Reid took to the Senate floor to announce what many progressives have been demanding for nearly 5 years.



As we've discussed before, Senator Reid has always been committed to preserving Senate tradition. That's why he had originally been so hesitant to radically alter the filibuster. And even when he was becoming increasingly frustrated by epic G-O-TEA obstruction, he didn't (yet) have enough Democratic Senators on board for major filibuster reform.

Back in July, Senator Reid brokered a deal with Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) and a few other (not extreme) Senate Republicans to allow for more executive and judicial confirmations. That was supposed to ease the epic gridlock of the upper chamber of Congress. And while it did for a few days, Senate Republican "leaders" simply whipped their caucus back into epic obstruction shortly after that fleeting, temporary breakthrough.

This is how Senator Reid and 51 other Senate Democrats finally reached their breaking point. And the numerous executive and judicial vacancies (due to the G-O-TEA filibusters) explain why. This is not how government is supposed to work. And at some point, something had to change.

And it now has. The breaking point has finally arrived. And after the long wait, Congress can finally become a bit more functional (well, at least the upper branch).