From a Senate staffer:
I just heard that the reason we’re trying to wrap up this bill by tomorrow is that there is a CODEL to Germany [for the annual Munich Security Conference]. Wheels up sometime around 6 p.m. out of Andrews. We’re going to let this thing go without making them take tough votes because a group of Senators wants to take a ride on the taxpayer overseas. We should call it the $800 billion plane ride. We should be debating this thing all week and make Reid shut us down. The more this hangs out there, the worse it smells to the American people. We are a sad excuse for a minority.
The Munich Security Conference is the Davos of the defense and national security world. It takes place Feb. 6-8.
Senate Republicans seem to have it backwards: You’re supposed to fly to Munich and then surrender–not surrender before you go.