The U.S. Senate, a dysfunctional day in the life The Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.), began: "Over the past week, I have listened to my Republican colleagues come to the floor and lament how little the Senate has accomplished during the 112th Congress. I, above all, share that concern. In fact, it is a wonder we have gotten anything done at all, considering the lack of cooperation Democrats have gotten from Republican colleagues. That brought the Republican minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), to his feet: "Yesterday, dozens of Republican senators came to the Senate floor one after the other to register their complete frustration with the way Democrats are running this place. Never before - never - has a president and a majority party in the Senate done so little to address challenges as great as the ones our nation faces right now - never. The quibbling wasn't over. The Democratic whip, Sen. Richard Durbin (Ill.), fired back: "I listened to the statement made on the floor by the Republican leader. It was a statement similar to one that was made yesterday. . . . I am disappointed that this session of Congress has been so unproductive, but I know the reason why. It isn't for lack of effort. . . . We have consistently run into the same problem over and over. In the last six years . . . the Republicans have created 382 filibusters. He spoke for another 25 minutes. By the time things got down to business, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took the floor for an hour for his bill to end "any direct United States assistance, loan guarantees or debt relief" to Libya, Egypt, Pakistan and any other nation where a U.S. diplomatic facility had been attacked or targeted. Aid could be restored if the secretary of state certified that the country was aiding in the investigation and arrest of those responsible and supported extradition of those the United States wanted. Paul discussed past instances in which U.S. aid had supported dictators. He used Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak as an example, claiming that his daughter Alaa has yachts and property in the United States worth $8 billion, adding, "How much of the money that went to pay for these yachts for the Mubarak family is yours [meaning taxpayers"]?" He made some valid points. But he also made exaggerated charges, such as: "We should be mad about the foreign aid, and so are the populations who are burning the American flag. They are mad because they did not receive the foreign aid. But like so much talk on the Senate floor lately, it was irrelevant - except to make points back home with those who think all foreign aid is a waste. Paul had almost no support for his bill, which fell 81 to 10 in a vote after midnight. But conservative GOP senators had to take the floor to explain their opposition, lest constituents question their support of the administration's aid program.