Bunning and Democrats have backed down on a tense debate over health care reform and will vote on amendments March 2, 2010. Senate clears Bunning roadblock

The Senate overwhelmingly voted Tuesday night to restore benefits to the nation’s jobless, ending an increasingly acrimonious battle with Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) who had mounted an unyielding stand against a broad range of funding for expiring domestic aid programs.

With support from Republicans crumbling, Bunning acquiesced to demands from Democrats that he relent on his objections and allow a vote to go forward on a $10 billion package to temporarily extend unemployment insurance, health care coverage to the jobless, federal flood insurance, a rural satellite TV program and allow more than 2,000 furloughed workers to return working on federal construction projects.


By a 78-19 vote, the Senate sent the bill to President Barack Obama, who promptly signed it Tuesday night, saying in a statement that he was "grateful to the members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle who worked to end this roadblock to relief for America’s working families."

Twenty-one Republicans joined a united Democratic caucus in voting for the measure. And the politics of deficit spending appeared to split the GOP leadership, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, GOP Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander, GOP Policy Chairman John Thune and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn voting against it, and Minority Whip Jon Kyl and Conference Vice Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski voting for the measure.

During the vote, the irascible Bunning spent his time talking to the floor staff and retreating to the GOP cloak room – largely avoiding mingling with his GOP colleagues who had taken a big political hit for his decision to repeatedly object to passing the measure.

The drama-free vote belied the fluid negotiations that took place throughout Tuesday, with Democrats using their upper hand to force Republicans eager to end the controversy to bend to their will and limit the amount of amendments the Senate would ultimately consider.

As part of the face-saving deal, Bunning was allowed to offer an amendment that would pay for the $10 billion package by narrowing the scope of a federal biofuels tax credit.

Before the Senate voted down his amendment by a 43-53 vote, Bunning angrily accused Democrats of mismanaging the floor calendar to prevent the $10 billion package from becoming law and allowing the popular provisions to expire Sunday night.

“He could have accepted my request to pay for the bill, and we would not be here tonight,” Bunning said sternly, referring to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “Instead, the leader decided to press ahead with a bill that adds to the debt and violates the principles of pay/go that everybody claims to care about.”

But Democrats, badly damaged in the polls and in disarray over their party’s agenda, were eager for a fight that would quickly unify their party. They waged a fierce campaign to paint Bunning and a complicit GOP as insensitive to the millions of jobless Americans – calling for quick acceptance of the $10 billion plan. And they said that Bunning had essentially been offered the same deal last week, which he rejected at the time.

“During this one-week period of time while the senator from Kentucky could have offered an amendment, he didn’t,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “And, as a result, on Sunday night, unemployment benefits were cut off for thousands of people across America, thousands of people across America, assistance of health insurance cut off all across America, thousands of federal employees were furloughed, federal contracts for construction were suspended.”

Bunning’s move stunned his GOP colleagues, who had remained largely quiet about the matter but returned to the Senate Tuesday with new incentive to get the unpredictable 78-year-old retiring conservative senator to back down. But Bunning has no loyalty to party politics, and remains resentful of his home-state colleague, McConnell, who quietly pressured Bunning to abort his 2010 reelection bid over fears that he’d lose a critical GOP seat.

With Bunning showing no signs of backing down, Republicans spent Tuesday going into overdrive to end a damaging story. First, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) contacted McConnell to inform him that she planned to make clear that Republicans didn’t agree with Bunning’s approach and wanted to extend the popular benefits. Secondly, negotiations began between Bunning’s staff and top Republicans over resolving the cantankerous senator’s objection. Third, a group of senators who have been sympathetic to Bunning approached him to try to broker a deal and end his politically damaging standoff on the Senate floor.

“It’s fair to say that I asked Sen. Bunning today if there was a way to work out a win for both sides,” Corker told POLITICO. “It’s fair to say that I did ask him today if there’s a win-win.”

And many Republicans sensed a lose-lose situation if the situation continued. Moments after she became the first Senate Republican to forcefully criticize Bunning, Collins said she wanted to make clear that Bunning didn’t speak for the party.

“It’s important that the American people understand that there is bipartisan support for extending these vital programs – this is not a partisan issue,” Collins said. “It only adds to the frustration of the American people when we are unable to act on a measure that has overwhelming support.”

But Collins wasn’t alone, as a wide spectrum of the Republican Senate Conference watching Bunning’s one man show become increasingly concerned Tuesday.

Asked if he was worried about the public perception that Republicans are obstructionists, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the more conservative members of the Senate, said: "I am concerned about that,"

“Whatever problems this creates for our budget is small—we've already got a mess,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who voted for the measure. “For the families involved, this is devastating. How much does this affect the federal budget’s deficit? A very small part. That's not a justification for running it up, however, when it comes to the family income, it's everything. It's all they've got.”

McConnell, who has avoided the controversy over his home-state colleague, said that he was “pleased that Sen. Bunning will have an opportunity to offer the amendments that he thinks are important and that he has been stressing for the last few days. And I’m glad we were able to work this out and move with the business of the Senate.”

Indeed, Republicans hoped that the Senate will move onto more politically palatable measures.

“It’s like a lot of things around here, there’s a tremendous amount of focus on it one day and – boom – it’s over the next,” said Thune. “And so I don’t anticipate that it has any impact.”

Meredith Shiner contributed to this story