Wall Street Journal: “Six is the number of Democratic senators that Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s new Republican Majority Leader, will have to woo over to his side to reach the 60 votes needed to break filibusters. Republicans have 54 seats and therefore a majority in the new Senate, which is nice for them. But it doesn’t guarantee much of anything, because most items of importance can be filibustered to death, and breaking a filibuster requires a super-majority of 60 votes.”
Tom Carper will always be available for anything that Mitch McConnell asks for, because BIPARTISANSHIP!, so really, the GOP has 55 Senators. Joe Manchin will likely join a lot too, so 56. I imagine Joe Donnelly of Indiana is reachable too. 57. On certain issues, given her red state-ness, Heidi Hietkamp of North Dakota is gettable. 58. But really, that’s it. All the traitorous red-state moderate Dems either got beat or retired last year.
But there is always Tom Carper. BIPARTISANSHIP!!!!
New York Times: “In a series of secret nighttime flights in the last two months, the Obama administration made more progress toward the president’s goal of emptying the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, than it had since 2009. The accelerated pace came after an era of political infighting and long bureaucratic delays.”
Rick Klein: “This was supposed to be the week that was about results, not process. But a rough holiday break removed that possibility from what was supposed to be a triumphal week for House Speaker John Boehner. Before he gets settled into a third term as speaker, he has one Republican member resigning after a felony conviction, and a top member of his leadership team under intense scrutiny for a not-really-that-long-ago speech in front of a white supremacist group. Then there’s the leadership challenge – a personal affront to Boehner, since the real time to run for House speaker would have been in GOP leadership elections shortly after Republicans expanded their majority to its new historic level. Ted Yoho/Louie Gohmert/Steve King won’t stop Boehner from continuing to serve as House speaker. But Boehner will once again have to tame the impulses of his own fractious conference, before his expanded House majority even votes on a bill. What’s that say about the year ahead?”