The senators were giddy.
Because there was a sense of inevitability about the 5.30pm vote on the Republican funding Bill, there was a sense of pageantry too. First came the Democrat-tabled Contuining Appropriations and Extensions Bill, upon Reconstitution, which would facilitate an 11-hour amendment to the Republican measures on health care.
From the gallery we watched as the various senators entered from the wings in dribs and drabs, signalling their vote and disappearing again. Lindsey Graham came whistling through and offered a jaunty thumbs down to the Democratic proposal, laughing as he exited the chamber without pausing. Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa and a fixture on the Hill for half a century, came in, voted against and then engaged in cordial conversation with Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat. Bernie Sanders came in, cast his vote and sat at his desk looking fed up.
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