the best government that money can buy, and all left over from protecting the franchise of slavery

The Senate works the way the Senate wants to work. Senate Democrats have chosen to make themselves hostage to Republicans. They want to roll over for insurance companies without having to admit it to their constituents.

Don't publicize this fact too much, the wingnut population might catch wind of the implications of this.

Jon Stewart pointed out to Biden last night why the Republicans got everything through w/o 60 votes, but the Dems can't do anything even with 60 votes. Biden said, "You make a good point."

How's Sen. Byrd doing these days?

Requiring a member to be physically in the chamber to cast a vote is so technologically backward it's laughable. It's 2009, for Christ's sake. It's now possible to cast a vote via webcam, conference call, etc...but the silly old-school rules of the senate stand in the way of basic progress yet again.

Reform these useless rules to embrace a little technology and stop the roadblocks.

It wasn't long ago that we would have gladly sent Baucus back to Montana for a while.

They don't even need to abolish the filibuster. Just reduce the votes needed for cloture to 57 and give the chair the authority to cut off and/or punish senators deliberately wasting time. If they insist on pouting like little kids and not letting anyone else play in the sandbox, give Biden the power to make them sit in a corner or go to bed without supper.

That last one is similar to what the mayor of Rome gets to do if the College of Cardinals refuse to vote on pope. Put the lot of 'em on bread and water.

Or, they could say that it is not 60 votes, but 60% of the members present. Surely there are Republican nutjob Senators who are attending a tea party somewhere.....

And it just happens to be Baucus...still fighting tooth and nail for a PO Baucus.

I find it very hard to believe. Surely 'tooth and nail' Baucus could fly back for the vote. It's getting harder and harder to justify paying them a salary.

Out of 100 senators it just happens to be Baucus, the one most indebted to priv. ins. donations who suddenly has a family emergency? What if republicans fail to show up or have family emergencies. Then we'd need less pro reform dems right?

Doen't seem like it makes any difference even if all 60 "Democrats" are present on the floor of the Senate. They'll always find another excuse for inaction freshly minted for every occasion....

In the UK parliament, this kind of issue is usually
handled by "pairing" - if a member of one party is
absent, they get paired off with a member of the
other party who then also will not vote. I think
this is probably handled by the whips of the two
parties.

Of course you'd have to go beyond a simple pairing
scheme to deal with the threshold for cloture votes
(3/5 sworn senators). But in a civilized democracy
with a decent level of cooperation between the
parties, that could be figured out. Obviously
right now the Republican party is not interested
in any kind of civilized arrangements, nor in
reflecting the expressed wishes of the electorate.
So it's just going to be ugly and awkward.

See http://www.parliament.uk/site_information/glossary.cfm?ref=pairing_6768

"Pairing is an arrangement where an MP of one party agrees with an MP of an opposing party not to vote in a particular division. This gives both MPs the opportunity not to attend. Pairing is an informal arrangement, however, and is not recognised by the House of Commons' rules. Such arrangements have to be registered with the whips, who check that the agreement is stuck to. Pairing is not allowed in divisions of great political importance but pairings can last for months or years."

There may be an upside to losing this vote. As I understand it, every Republican would be put on record as denying the Senate the opportunity to even discuss the issue. When Baucus returns, the bill can proceed.

My real fear is that Senator Baucus is having a "family emergency" to stall the bill and not having an actual family emergency. Hopefully the Baucus family situation improves and the senator is able to return to his job ASAP.

Abolish the senate. Problem solved.

Hear! Hear!

Where is all the comity that the Senate is famous for? Baccus held up the finance committee markup for MONTHS to try and appease Sen Snow and Grassley. Surely one of them would return the favor by voting to get the bill to the floor. I am sure one of them will step up for their good friend, Baccus...anyone?...crickets....

Let's hope someone close to him died. w/o insurance, of course.

It's almost farcical. -- Steve Benen

Eh? Your sense of humour must be even more warped than mine. But then, I could never "get" what fun there was in watching high-wire antics, either.

And I agree with Mistamatic, @15:16; why do all the clowns have to be present to vote? What's wrong with voting absentee? God forbid, one of them should cast his vote without having, first, been exposed to all the blather the opposition party could muster?

There has to be a better way for a legislative branch to function.

I'd settle for finding a better way for even one of the parties to function.

This current mode of "filibustering" is ridiculous. So someone basically says, "I filibuster" and sh*t breaks down. Repeal this nonsense Rule 22 and make legislators get out there and make their endless speeches and roll out the cots for quorum if they truly mean to filibuster.

How Convenient that Max Baucus , who sat in the Senate Hearings on Health Care with a Wellpointe Lobbyist sitting behind him has a family emergency this weekend. He can fly right back to Washington to vote and return the same might.

It better be life and death because the lack of health care is causing family emergencies by the millions across this country.