For whatever Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul decided against trying to derail a procedural vote on funding the government—including Planned Parenthood—through December 11, making their promises that Planned Parenthood wouldn't get another dollar of government funding look pretty empty. The bill needed 60 votes to move forward, and it passed 77-19.
In setting up the vote, Senate Majority Leader insisted that the only reason that the Senate was having to consider a short-term funding bill was because the Democrats were forcing "unnecessary crises." Luckily, someone with a good memory was also on the Senate floor.
But Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fired back calling the looming deadline "another Republican-manufactured showdown."
"I would be remiss if I didn't remind everyone that this last-minute scramble to do our most basic job is as unnecessary as it reckless," he added. "We're two days away from a shutdown, only two days, and why? Because Republicans made it their number one priority to undermine women's health."
The Senate will have the final passage vote on this funding measure, which needs just a simple majority, Tuesday or Wednesday and immediately send it to the House. Which is good, since midnight Wednesday is the deadline. It looks pretty clear that House Speaker John Boehner's resignation means he won't allow extremists in his caucus to prevent the funding bill from passing and will pass it with Democratic votes. So until the next crisis which the Republicans will most definitely be creating—the debt ceiling hike—it looks like we'll still have a functioning government on Thursday. Not a functioning Congress, but a government.