Politics as unusual

Yesterday afternoon the Senate voted for the Coburn Amendment to the massive economic recovery bill and the amendment, which virtually eliminates all art funding from the package among other things, passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, and included support from many high profile Senators including Chuck Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and several other Democratic and Republican Senators.