WASHINGTON AP – Congress returns for its midsummer session Monday with a Senate supermajority not super enough for President Barack Obama’s top priorities to pass without Republican support.
The seating of Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will give Democrats the filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate, but only on paper. Absences by two ailing senators mean the party can count only 58 votes, and then only if Majority Leader Harry Reid can herd two independents and the independent streaks of 55 others behind Obama’s biggest initiatives: expanded health care coverage and cleaner but more expensive energy.
