Washinton Monthly's 'Political Animal' feature also notes that the Sergeant At Arms is instructed to keep everyone in for live quorum calls, and lots of asking for unanimous consent to move on.Senate Democratic leaders are planning for an all-night session to put more pressure on Republicans to allow a debate on Wall Street reform.
Republican senators voted for the third time in three days on Wednesday to block an effort to bring a reform bill to the floor.
Democratic aides said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to keep the Senate in session overnight to force Republicans to reconsider their opposition to the Democratic legislation.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said leaders had decided to hold a nighttime session to highlight GOP opposition to the Wall Street reform bill.
"I think so, that's our plan," Durbin told The Hill.
Democratic aides confirmed the internal discussions.
“There’s some appetite in the caucus for that,” said a senior Democratic aide. “We may be going in that direction.”
The aide said a final decision would be made after the vote to begin debate, which Republicans then defeated.
A second Senate Democratic aide said leadership staff has put out the word the Senate might hold a marathon session Wednesday into Thursday.
Reid warned Republicans they would face repeated votes to cut off debate on the Wall Street reform bill if they continued to filibuster the measure.
“Let’s get onto this bill because we’re going to continue having votes on this matter as long as it takes,” Reid told Republicans during a floor speech.
Reid said talks between Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the senior Republican on the panel, have reached a standstill.
“I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle again, let’s stop talking about this negotiation,” Reid said. “It’s going nowhere.
“We need to move on,” he added. “Republicans and Democrats have held months of bipartisan meetings ... But the time has come to move this conversation from the sidelines to the playing field.”
Republicans have argued that businesses from a growing array of industries have weighed in against the Democratic bill.
“What we’ve seen from these groups is a growing concern about the adverse effect this bill could have on their businesses,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Wednesday morning. “Everyone from candybar companies to motorcycle makers, it seems, is now worried about the impact of this bill.”
Congratulations. You get your 'Dems act tuff' theatre. And maybe it'll work.
