With the exasperation of a tired taskmaster, Sen. Mike Enzi mockingly congratulated the Senate for completing its first round of votes late Thursday in its all-night "vote-a-rama" on a Republican-sponsored budget resolution.
"It only took us six hours and 15 minutes to do 17 votes," Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told his colleagues. "The next tranche has 26 votes. I need to let you know that you don’t have to wait all ten minutes to turn in your vote. If you get your vote in in five minutes, we can be done in five minutes."
After the gentle scolding, Enzi announced that dinner was served, courtesy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He half-jokingly added that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., volunteered to provide dinner Friday night.
"So unless we can speed this up, what we’re looking for is a volunteer for breakfast and lunch tomorrow," Enzi said. "And looking at the list of amendments, I’m pretty serious about all of that."