The Cost of Obstruction

GOP Pouring Money into a Dead-End Hole

Republican senators are joining forces to maintain the status quo in the Senate. By underwriting the fight to keep the seat of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Wisconsin, vacant they can in effect

maintain their power to obstruct Congress.

It is now clear that Senate Republicans have a strategy for maintaining their ability to stall -- or, at the least, dramatically alter -- Obama administration initiatives.

Individual GOP senators are paying big bucks to keep the Senate's 100th seat -- representing Minnesota -- vacant for as long as possible. Consider it an investment in the short-term future..

What's at stake?

The partisan divide in the Senate is currently 58 Democrats (56 party members and two independents who caucus with the Democrats, Connecticut's Joe Lieberman and Vermont's Bernie Sanders) versus 41 Republicans.

That 41 figure is perilously close to the number that Republicans need to threaten filibusters. It takes 60 seats to invoke cloture and force action on legislation and appointments in the tradition-bound Senate.

If Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Al Franken, who state officials determined weeks ago won the Senate seat by 225 votes, is seated it would be harder to block Senate deliberations. And with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter -- a moderate, labor-friendly Republican who faces a tough reelection fight in a Democratic state next year showing a willingness to deal -- GOP Senate leaders well understand the vulnerability of their position. Republican senators are pouring money into the dead-end recount fight of former Senator Norm Coleman.

Who's behind the money?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has given the maximum allowed amount of money to keep the Coleman recount fight going -- $10,000 -- as has House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Idaho Senator Mike Crapo slipped Coleman another $10,000, as have Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson and Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander.

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe is in for $5,000, as is Iowan Charles Grassley.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, the champion of faux bipartisanship who used his "swing" position to extract massive amounts of job-creation money from the stimulus package, added $2,000 to the Coleman kitty.

Eric Schultz, a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aide, tells Politico that, "It's clear that national Republicans see the vacancy in Minnesota as one of the few arrows in their quiver to obstruct Democrats in the Senate from getting real change passed."