I was flabbergasted when the very first thing the Senate did yesterday (after the normal procedural stuff) was pass the AT&T dereg bill. Unfortunately, so was at least one of the bill’s opponents. A filibuster was threatened.
While some negotiations took place off the chamber floor, a dozen or so bills did pass, which was a small step forward. But ultimately the negotiations were unsuccessful and rather than endure a few hours of filibustering, the Senate adjourned having worked only a fraction of the special order calendar they adopted.
While it’s disappointing they didn’t make any more progress on their calendar, the fact that the AT&T bill is out of our way is important. Baby steps. The other big hang-up we can all be worried about is bingo, which still lingers over the session like a dark cloud.
I’m more hopeful about next week than I was about this week. Let’s see what happens.