A Glimpse Into How the Senate Works

This just in from BoldProgressives.org -

"Senate Democrats finally voted to end the filibuster of presidential appointments this week, after years of tolerating Republican obstruction.

As Elizabeth Warren told activists yesterday, Senator Jeff Merkley has been "leading the fight for filibuster reform from the very beginning."

Merkley is up for re-election in 2014. Can you donate $3 to his campaign to ensure Elizabeth Warren continues having this strong ally in the Senate?

It's sometimes been lonely for Sen. Merkley as he tried to convince his colleagues to make the Senate functional again.

The Huffington Post reported a few months ago that at a "closed-door caucus meeting, Merkley was upbraided... for breaking unspoken Senate rules and naming specific senators [who needed pressure] in a conference call with Democratic activists."

The vote this week was a narrow 52 to 48. A few Democrats voted wrong. That means Merkley's months of work, and outside grassroots pressure, were absolutely needed."

[It's up to you whether you want to donate to Merkley, but I thought the peek behind the scenes was salutary....]

Student Loans Rip-Off: The Struggle Goes On

Senator Elizabeth Warren says "We're still in the middle of the fight."

To prevent College students being charged nine times what we charge Wall Street banks, "It's going to take people all across the country saying 'This matters to me. We can't do this to our kids.'"

July 1st is the date of the big vote in the Senate, and Democracy for America say, "A majority of senators already support stopping the rate hike. We just need a few more to break the Republican filibuster"

You can donate to them at https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/studentloanaction?refcode=CSL13jhdt