Fix it behind closed doors

Per Jason Easley at Politicus USA: McConnell clarified this afternoon that nobody's allowed to read the bill until after they pass it.

Nobody gets the real reason for Flynn's guilty plea , which is that it's to distract us from the Senate Republicans passing this obscene tax bill (I don't know that it's really obscene, of course, and perhaps they're airbrushing out all the pubic hair as we speak).

The following report from CNN and some other material is offered without comment:

The news [of the Senate parliamentarian's ruling out the "trigger" amendment Corker was demanding to make up for the unexpectedly large deficit forecast in the JCT report] led to Corker holding court on the Senate floor on and off for nearly an hour as an amendment vote was held open and dozens of reporters filled the Senate chamber to watch the drama unfold from above.

As CNN reported earlier Thursday, a throng of Republicans encircled Corker and Flake as Sen. Pat Toomey, a member on the Senate Finance Committee who has cut deals with Corker on the tax bill already, stood next to Corker, explaining something at length.

At one point, the Senate's Parliamentarian came over and Corker used his hands to try to convey a point to her for several minutes.... At one point Toomey grew audibly frustrated, this time standing face-to-face with the Tennessee Republican.

"Furious," one aide responded when asked how GOP senators were responding behind closed doors to what Corker did on the floor. "Didn't need to be done publicly. Didn't need to cause a scene. We know it's a problem. Fix it behind closed doors."

This tax bill is literally getting worse by the minute yet Republicans are desperate to pass it - before we can even read it or the CBO can score it.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 1, 2017

This is so bad. We have just gotten list of amendments to be included in bill NOT from our R colleagues, but from lobbyists downtown. None of us have seen this list, but lobbyists have it. Need I say more? Disgusting. And we probably will not even be given time to read them. pic.twitter.com/Mn0i56JeZg

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) December 1, 2017

Trump has been binge eating since the Flynn news broke this AM. Panda Express. Arbys. Krispy Kreme. Oval Office like a mall food court today. Only staffers allowed inside "must have food" with them.

— Rogue WH Snr Advisor (@RogueSNRadvisor) December 1, 2017