How Rhode Island's Senate Delegation Spent their Thursday...

Yesterday was a busy day for Rhode Island’s Senate Delegation. Here’s the quick summary. As always, there's more commentary to follow...

1. Senator Reed was the primary sponsor of an amendment that would have allocated an additional $3,100,000,000 for “unanticipated home energy assistance needs”. The amendment was defeated 53 in favor, 46 opposed. (There is apparently a Senate rule saying that certain budget measures require a 60-vote majority to pass).

2. Senator Chafee presided over a Foreign Relations committee hearing on the subject of "U.S. Foreign Policy, Petroleum, and the Middle East". (If you click on the title link at the top of the hearing announcement, you can see streaming video of the hearing.)

3. Finally, both of our Senators ended up voting against the Coburn amendment to redirect funding from the “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska to the Twin Spans bridge in Louisiana destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The amendment was defeated, 15-82. I wonder if Senator Reed has any comment on Senators like Ben Nelson or Thomas Carper, who voted against home heating assistance, but for preserving the bridge to nowhere on the same day?