Oregon's Merkley and Wyden mix it up with Kentucky's Bunning

Kari Chisholm FacebookTwitterWebsite

(This is a bit of an update to Paul Gronke's post earlier today, along with the Oregon angle.)

Late last week, a procedural firestorm erupted on the floor of the U.S. Senate that - by Monday morning - was impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

And our Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden were right in the midst of it.

On Thursday, the House passed a bill extending unemployment insurance benefits. In addition, the bill would also extend COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers to keep their health insurance, push off yet again a cut in Medicare payments to doctors (a problem whose solution is hoped-for in health reform.)

The House did so on a voice vote, signaling that the bill was uncontroversial. The bill moved to the Senate, where it was expected to pass by unanimous consent.

Until Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) decided to object. And he did so without the support of GOP leadership. But, in the bizarre ways of the Senate, one Senator can object to a unanimous consent request -- and that triggers a process that can take days, even if the eventual vote is 99-1.

On the floor, Senator Jeff Merkley pleaded for Bunning to change his mind. From the Huffington Post's Arthur Delaney:

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) is single-handedly blocking Senate action needed to prevent an estimated 1.2 million American workers from prematurely losing their unemployment benefits next month. When, on the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) begged him to drop his objection Bunning replied: "Tough shit."

FireDogLake's David Dayen explains that Bunning would have had to maintain his objection through the night - but other Republican Senators jumped to his aid:

I asked the Senators why they didn’t continue asking for unanimous consent agreements on Thursday night, forcing Bunning to stay on the floor and continue his crusade. He was already getting belligerent, and could have just faded through the exhaustion of an all-night filibuster, but the Senate adjourned around midnight. ...

“When it was Bunning by himself, the prospect of breaking him was very real,” [Merkley] said. “But when coordinated support materialized, it became clear we weren’t going to be able to overcome this on the floor.” In other words, other Republican Senators stopped by on the floor in reserve, and if Bunning could no longer continue, they stood ready to step in and object to any unanimous consent agreement.

Senator Ron Wyden has stepped in the fracas as well. Noting that there are a lot of bills due to expire in coming weeks, he's now placed a "hold" (a notice of forthcoming objection to any unananimous consent requests) on all of those bills. In short, Wyden is vowing to shut down the operation of the Senate until Bunning relents on unemployment benefits. From HuffPo:

Wyden is outraged. "Denying [the unemployed] legislation that helps them pay for the basic necessities of life is fundamentally wrong," Wyden told HuffPost. "For people that are getting hammered in this economy, trying literally to figure out from their kitchen table and their living rooms how they're going to get by, this legislation is a lifeline."

Over the weekend, the Senate adjourned - and now, Bunning's action are impacting real people.

Some 400,000 laid-off workers won't get unemployment insurance benefits this week.

Monday morning, about 2000 federal transportation workers were furloughed - including a number federal construction inspectors, halting several dozen federal highway projects (including one $6.2 million project in Oregon, in the Ochoco National Forest.)

And doctors who care for Medicare patients saw an immediate cut of 21% in their reimbursement rates, leading some to express concern that - if this continues - they won't be able to continue to see Medicare patients.

Stay tuned.

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    Full disclosure: My firm built Ron Wyden's and Jeff Merkley's campaign websites. I speak only for myself.

  • Anonymous (unverified)
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    What BO crap. The lack of unanimous consent is because this spending wasn't paid for. Rather than even admit that this was the cause, BO tries to make it out that Bunning just hates everybody. The Senate had earlier said it would honor Pay-Go and pay for spending it authorized, and here it was not doing that.

    Everything Bunning objected to could have been paid for with unspent Stimulus dollars. And still could. But the Dems just want to crank up the debt, and won't cop to it.

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    Bunning's one man filibuster has Senate Republicans running for the hills. They are not lining up to defend him except for R-Kyl of Arizona. Worse, Bunning's behavior has the potential to appear in ads for Democrats running for office in those states where large numbers of workers are not on the job due to his filibuster.

  • Catherine (unverified)
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    Way to go Senator Bunning!!!! WE HAVE NOOOOO Money!!!!!!! It's about time someone stood up and showed some backbone in Washington.

  • Joshua Welch (unverified)
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    Stay classy Rescumlicans

  • anon (unverified)
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    Take a look at Bunning's voting record. Nice to see he has a consistent record on supporting only those bills which will not raise the deficit....Not!

    http://votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=26874

  • Scott in Damascus (unverified)
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    "Way to go Senator Bunning!!!! WE HAVE NOOOOO Money!!!!!"

    Really?

    Then how do we keep paying the bills to keep the lights on in Afghanistan?

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    If the fight is one of Senator "tough shit" Bunning vs. Jeff Merkley and Democrats supporting people who need unemployment insurance, medicare, and construction jobs guess who wins? I can't wait for today's stories on the possibility that physicians will turn away Medicare patients. Hell has no fury like a Medicare patient scorned (or turned away from a doctor because some idiot in Congress stopped payment.) Just ask Dan Rostenkowski.

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    Senator Merkley's comment is interesting. Why did Democratic leadership blink at forcing every Republican "standing at the ready" to go and explain to the American people and their constituents why they are for cutting off unemployment benefits for 400,000 Americans and why they are for making it more difficult for senior citizens to obtain needed medical care?

    I find Bunning's position both hypocritical and offensive. He has been a party to running up the deficit for the last 10 years and now when it comes to providing unemployment insurance to citizens who have been put out of work, in part by failed policies that Bunning has supported, he suddenly as decided to become a deficit hawk?

    If Bunning wants $10 billion in cuts, then Democratic leadership should oblige him by starting with every earmark that benefits his constituents and the constituents of any Senator who joins Bunning in this hold.

  • Bill Bodden (unverified)
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    Anyone, like Bunning, who voted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and who has no problem pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the maw of the most wasteful department in the United States, if not the world (i.e. the war department) is in no position to claim fiscal responsibility.

  • marv (unverified)
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    We have no money? Obama "budgets" 970 million to provide security for the embassay in Iraq and cuts the budget for NHTSA.

    Senator Dodd wants to completely gut any effort to curb in the criminal activity of banks. You have no money?

    Soon you will be asked to bail out the next burst bubble.

    Hopeless republican idiots.

  • Unrepentant Liberal (unverified)
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    Now that 2010 has arrived the republicans have 'discovered' oh my Gawd that we have a budget deficit! Maybe they have been in a coma for 8 of the past 10 years when they supported and voted for George W. Bush who submitted budgets that took a surplus and turned it into a gigantic deficit.

    But 'its all different now' that a Democrat is in the White House! Only now does it matter in spite of the fact that President Obama had to pass a stimulus in order to stop our economies Titanic like dive to the bottom of the ocean.

    What rank and vile hypocrisy. Remember repubs, lying will condemn your souls to hell. Nice way to put politics over country.

    Bunning is as big of a jerk as you think he is. It's a good thing Jesus isn't on Unemployment. "I was poor, hungry and unemployed; and Jim Bunning replied, "Too @#%&*#@ bad for you."

  • dan (unverified)
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    Bunning's shenanigans are going to end up costing the government more money to deal with the lapse.

  • shank black (unverified)
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    Finally a Senator (Bunning) with the guts to stand up against out-of-control government spending. I salute him. Wyden and Merkley have to go (I'm a native Oregonian). If Wyden and Merkley have their way, they would prefer to keep passing the debt onto our kids. Where's their compassion for our children who haven't even earned their first paycheck? Take the money out of the stimulus package. That's what it's there for. Get rid of these big spenders. Remember Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

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    Bill Bodden: Anyone, like Bunning, who voted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and who has no problem pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the maw of the most wasteful department in the United States, if not the world (i.e. the war department) is in no position to claim fiscal responsibility.

    I have my differences with Mr. Bodden, but this statement of his really bears repeating.

    Let me also add, "voted for massive tax giveaways to plutocratic fraudsters without any corresponding spending reductions".

  • Robert Harris (unverified)
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    This seems like a godsend for health care. Pres. Obama's first line on wednesday can now be..

    ..At a time when a single US Senator can terminate unemployment benefits and medical coverage for millions. When the rules of that chamber can result in 1 individual shutting down whole government programs and causing a 21% reduction in doctor fees, how can anyone criticize our goal of using those same rules to allow a simple majority vote for health care for all.

    Why don't we just rename the senate the House of Lords and be done with it.

  • Patrick Story (unverified)
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    I hate to sound selfish regarding the antics of this Senator Senility, but I have already been put on notice by my doctor's accountant that he may have to start dropping Medicare patients because the payments for service are so low.

    For those who think this rich, arrogant old white guy is great stuff, remember that if you are lucky enough to reach age 65 anytime soon, you too will be on Medicare and trying to find a doctor who will accept you as a patient.

  • Bill Bodden (unverified)
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    One thing about Bunning and his partner, McConnell, they give us incentive to appreciate living in Oregon and not Kentucky.

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    Patrick,

    Call the Oregonian and tell them your story. They should have a reporter on it. If they won't tell you who, try David Sarashohn.

  • Troy (unverified)
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    Why is it we pay twice as much per person for our healthcare than any other country in the world and we hear from republicans that we can't afford it?

    There's something wrong here. We've lost sight of the real problem - we're paying too much for too little.

    It's not like we are getting what we paid for either. The US ranks 17 in overall health.

    Meanwhile, I'm struggling to pay for health insurance because I already paid for 18 months of unsubsidized COBRA. For folks in the same boat, I've put together some information on alternatives to COBRA at www.cobrareform.weebly.com.

  • Bill Bodden (unverified)
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    "It's not like we are getting what we paid for either. The US ranks 17 in overall health. "

    Troy: According to the World Health Organization report for Year 2000 the United States ranked 37th for attainment and performance. Considering how costs have risen since then the U.S. would probably rank 40-something now. It won't get any better as long as the insurance corporations have key players in Congress on their payroll.

  • R.Ritchie (unverified)
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    How typical of Wyden/Merkley, get tough after they have already given up any moral advantage. The all to familiar sendem reaction to any slight gopper push back - run away from the gop and don't force the "minions of NO to actually filibuster." No, this is so very typical of all the pussydems,cowerdems, gutlessdems and futiledems. There is a very simple equation to explain the essence of the Senate - corruption + lack empathy + corporate whoredom = US Senator!!!!!!

  • Bob Tiernan (unverified)
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    Patrick Story:

    but I have already been put on notice by my doctor's accountant that he may have to start dropping Medicare patients because the payments for service are so low.

    Bob T:

    Payments have been low as a matter of routine because this is how the government "controls" costs, and thus "prices", or so they think. The money is often made up by charging more to other patients who then see their premiums go up. This is what happens when government is filled with economic illterates (Obama being no smarter or dumber than most).

    Bob Tiernan Portland

  • Patrick Story (unverified)
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    Bob T,

    I should have added that I have also heard that I and other Oregon residents may have to seek doctors across the river in Washington State because that state receives higher proportional Medicare payments. I don't know the whole history of state allocations, but this crazy quilt also needs to be made rational as part of reform.

  • DJ (unverified)
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    This has nothing to do with Bunning's prior voting record, since the Dem's Pay-Go law wasn't signed by Obama until just last month. The Dems could have simply followed the law THEY pushed so hard for and avoided the furlough altogether by using Stimulus dollars. Hmmm...so why not spend those Stimulus dollars now???

    excerpt: But the problem for Democrats is that Bunning was able to hold out for five long days. One lone U.S. senator was able to stop the gravy-train long enough to attract attention and for the real message to leak out. In '06 and '08, Democrats campaigned specifically on what they call "Pay-Go," whereby the government must match spending with revenue. The matter was hatched back when Democrats were trying to gum up the War on Terror. Pay-Go was an attempt to tie George Bush's hands. You see, voting for military cuts while troops were engaged in combat would have looked bad to voters, but Pay-Go, once passed, was to be a device whereby Democrats could cut military funding indirectly. "Hey, it isn't us. We're just following the law..."

    But government moves slowly, and just a couple of weeks ago, on February 10, the Pay-Go bill finally became law. We didn't hear much about a signing ceremony. George W. Bush is long gone, and Barack H. Obama now owns The War.

    Nevertheless, when President Obama signed the bill, the message was supposed to be clear: From now on, there'll be no more spending unless we can pay for it, and that's that.

    This is exactly what the Senator Jim Bunning fuss was all about. A little over two weeks after they outlawed unsecured spending, in their first piece of major financial legislation, the Democratic majority ignored half a trillion dollars still sitting in Stimulus funds and went ahead and borrowed other billions without indicating how they'd pay it back.

    Of course, the suspicion is that the Stimulus money is not meant for things like unemployment or highway funding...not now, at least. Those funds are scheduled to be released later this summer and into the fall in order to give a sugar-boost to the economy just before the midterm elections. Barack Obama may be a Harvard-educated lawyer, but as a politician, he's pure Chicago. Stashing away a slush fund of public money to dole out at election time is exactly the kind of ethical juggling they do every day of the week back in the Windy City. The plan is to leave the economy in the tank until we need people to vote.

  • Steve Marx (unverified)
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    "if this continues - they won't be able to continue to see Medicare patients."

    Hate to break it to you - But a lot of doctors won't take Medicare or Oregon Health Plan patients. Just a preview of a Public Option for you.

    On Bunning, where the heck was he asking how we're going to pay for this furing the "buckets of money" phase for the past 1.5 years?

    Anyways, its a rhetorical question, the deficit speding is 10x as big as 2 years ago and not one congressperson has a clue about how it will get paid for besides trying to sell more paper to China.

    <h2>Great legacy for the kids.</h2>

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