It looks as though some Senate Republicans are at least moving toward a willingness to deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. At the very least, they're certainly distancing themselves from their Republican colleagues on the other side of Capitol Hill. Greg Sargent has this from
Sens. Scott Brown and Bob Corker:
Massachusetts-based WBUR Tweets that Scott Brown is now saying he could support Harry Reid’s debt ceiling proposal:
Sen. Brown tells WBUR parties need to work across the aisle to resolve debt-ceiling impasse; he’d vote for Reid’s plan
There's no story up on the WBUR web site on this, so I checked in with the reporter who conducted the interview with Senator Brown, and she confirmed that he did say he'd back Reid's proposal, though she has no recording of the interview.[...]
Senator Bob Corker said this morning that raising the debt ceiling in stages—as the House GOP plan does — risks creating economic uncertainty and harming the recovery.
That doesn't mean Corker is ready to sign up with Reid, but obviously he is reflecting frustration many Senate Republicans must be feeling when watching the chaos and insanity of the House. That frustration is expressed very clearly by Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
"Absolutist" lawmakers aligned with the Tea Party have put the U.S. "on the brink," Senator Lisa Murkowski said.
House Speaker John Boehner is grappling with a "situation that is perhaps out of his control" as he struggles to persuade those members to compromise on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said.
"I am really worried about where we are standing and I think part of that has come about because you have individuals that say, 'It is my way or the highway,'" Murkowski, 54, said today in an interview at Bloomberg's Washington office. "That is not how you govern."
Murksowski sure isn't going to show any love for the teabagger wing of the party, since they took her out in a primary last year, a move she was able to thwart with her successful write-in campaign. Murkowski says she'd support a Gang of Six or similar plan. But she sure sounds like she'll be wiling to sign on to about anything that once again thwarts the insane wing of her party in the House.