Tempers Flare in the Senate

“If there is a rock bottom in the frayed relationship between Senate Republicans and Democrats, it seemed uncomfortably close as the final days of 2013 on Capitol Hill degenerated into something like an endurance contest to see who could be the most spiteful,” the New York Times reports.

“As the sun rose on Friday, the Senators had worked through a second straight all-night session — called by Democrats as a way of retaliating for Republicans’ delaying tactics on confirmations — and before the senators headed in for the votes, they were chugging Red Bull or sleeping in their offices, and angrily assigning blame.”

Said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): “I think it resembles fourth graders playing in a sandbox, and I’ll give the majority leader, Harry Reid, 99 percent of the responsibility for it.”