rick: okay. so it s called voterama, an old senate trick apparently and it s exactly how the senate passed its first budget in four years, just before dawn this morning. at at last night s marathon negotiations would suggest, it can often be a frantic situation. we are not at carnival stage yet. let s proceed and try to use dignity. i know there is a lot of march madness going on. we would like to keep it calm on the floor so we can get through amendments. if everybody could please take their conversations to the cloak room. i know everyone is exhausted. and you may not feel it at the moment, but this is one of the senate s finest days in recent years. rick: susan estridge is a professor of law and political science at the university of southern california. i hate to laugh at the minority leader s comments, but one of the finest days for the senate in recent for those of us who don t speak washingtonian what,