The 41-Second Senate Day

Must be tough working 41-second shifts. Do they think they're hockey players?:

At 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, the Senate came to order. Forty-one seconds later, it adjourned.

During this legislative session, there was no bill under consideration, no debate on the floor, not even an opening prayer or a pledge of allegiance. The only senator in the chamber was Mark Warner (D-Va.), the presiding officer.

After completing his gavel duties, Warner looked up at the 20 tourists in the public gallery and wondered aloud to the clerk what the spectators must think of the proceedings.

“They think, ‘this is our government?’ ” the clerk replied.

That’s if they’re being charitable.

The Senate is supposed to be in Memorial Day recess this week. But the chamber is so ungovernable that Majority Leader Harry Reid doesn’t even have the votes to declare a recess. So he decided instead to have a few “pro forma” sessions, such as Tuesday’s, allowing senators to take a vacation without voting for it.

What a leader that Harry Reid is.