On Friday morning, Reid settled the matter. "In light of recent events," read a statement sent out by his office, "I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act."

The move by Reid to hit pause on the bill, known as PIPA, is a big deal -- not least as an acknowledgment that online protest is shaping his agenda.

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The first stage of the Boehner "Two Step Plan to Be Mean to Obama" promises "immediate" cuts of $1.2 trillion. Harry Reid's counter-proposal proposes $2.7 trillion in reductions, a total big enough to make most Democrats gulp at the prospect of the poor, sick and elderly suddenly shoved onto the street.

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White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement that Reid's proposal was a "reasonable approach that should receive the support of both parties."

Reid's plan does not include any new tax revenue, as President Barack Obama has demanded. But unlike the GOP plan, it would extend the debt ceiling into 2013 -- an Obama ultimatum.

Carney said all the cuts proposed by Reid had already been agreed to by White House and Republican negotiators during talks led by Vice President Joe Biden. Those discussions broke down last month.

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"And with the exception of tax hikes -- which will destroy jobs -- everything is on the table."

Never mind the fact that "trillions of dollars of cuts" in any accelerated time frame would "destroy jobs" much more efficiently than ending Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. And it's not even worth pointing out, again, the Republican demagoguery that portrays the statutory end of the Bush tax cuts as wild tax hikes. The speech is most useful in its demonstration of classic Washington politician projectionism: Boehner did not mention under what time frame the cuts should take place nor did he specify where exactly the cuts should come. So who, precisely, is punting the tough questions to the future?

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"The National Endowment of the Humanities is the reason we have in northern Nevada every January a cowboy poetry festival. Had that program not been around, the tens of thousands of people who come there every year would not exist."

The media jumped on this quote immediately, turning the phrase "cowboy poetry festival" into a lightening rod phrase during these budget cut debates. And on the surface, it does seem like a ridiculous choice to single out: After all, whoever heard of cowboys being poets? Apparently the only cowboys who are poets are the gay ones, according to how many "Brokeback Mountain" references have been made by conservative blogs like MoonBattery  and Townhall, the latter of which quoted a new parody song by Mark Steyn in their analysis:

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The bill that cleared the House on a bipartisan vote of 335-91 eliminates the threat of a shutdown on March 4, when existing funding authority expires. At the same time, it creates a compressed two-week timeframe for the White House and lawmakers to engage in what looms as a highly contentious negotiation on a follow-up bill to set spending levels through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid said the short-term bill would win approval and be ready for President Barack Obama's signature within 48 hours. "We'll pass this and then look at funding the government on a long-term basis," said the Nevada Democrat.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House, which earlier in the day called publicly for an interim measure of up to five weeks.

House Republicans were more eager to draw attention to the bill that was passing with the acquiescence of the White House and Democrats than to the challenge yet ahead.

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President Barack Obama, who has vowed to veto any total repeal of his signature legislative accomplishment, has said he would accept the change. It does not directly affect health care.

Republicans conceded in advance their attempt at total repeal would fall short, but they accomplished an objective of forcing rank and file Democrats to take a position on an issue that reverberated in the 2010 campaign and may play a role in 2012.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the vote marked an opportunity for Democrats who voted for the bill last year "to listen to those who have desperately been trying to get your attention."

"To say, yes, maybe my vote for this bill was a mistake, and that we can do better," McConnell said.

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It is actually amazing how quickly this collapsed. One month ago every single Senate Democrat signed a letter in support of reforms of the cloture rule. Tom Udall's proposal would not have even killed the filibuster; it would've just forced 40 members to stay on the floor to sustain it, instead of one guy declaring filibuster and everyone pacing for 30 hours.

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It was previously thought that Harry Reid would simply block a vote on repeal and that would be the end of it, but Minority Leader Mitch McConnell always finds a way. He could use "Rule 14" to bring it to the floor, for example. Or -- and this is what he'll probably do -- he could attach repeal as an amendment to something likely to pass the Senate.

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Citing better Medicare prescription coverage and other changes in the new law, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his top lieutenants say the overhaul "is too important to be treated as collateral damage in a partisan mission to repeal health care."

The letter says repeal would have "unintended consequences" for the part of the law that gradually closes the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, as well as for other popular consumer benefits. Also signing the letter are Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Charles Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington.

A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

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Yet the flurry of activity this past week completes the work of the most effective Congress in a generation, one that has passed more historic legislation and transformed the American political landscape more than any since the 1960s. Like the Great 89th, the Congress that Lyndon B. Johnson swept into office with his 1964 landslide, this session re-wrote many of the fundamental rules of American life: eliminating barriers to full participation of gays and lesbians, subjecting the financial sector to regulatory oversight, and constructing a national health insurance program. And like its celebrated Johnson-era predecessor, this Congress has received little thanks for its achievements.

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So I went through the archives to help remind everyone just how many silly things the conservative press got all worked up about in the year 2010. (With a couple big items left out. Everyone stopped talking about the "Ground Zero Mosque" once summer ended, but it's hardly been completely forgotten.)

Harry Reid said "Negro"

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No one quite knows what to make of it. "What broken system?" HuffPost Hill semi-sarcastically asked. (Those who are predisposed to particularly dumb narratives decided that this sudden Senate action means that President Obama's having a "comeback.")

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nye County is the ninth large-scale solar facility approved by the Obama administration in an effort to encourage renewable energy development on public lands in the West.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says construction of the 110-megawatt plant will create up to 500 jobs. Once finished, it will employ 50 in operations and management positions.

The project 13 miles northwest of Tonopah was proposed by Solar Reserve's Tonopah Solar Energy of Santa Monica, Calif.

It will encompass about 2,200 acres on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

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Obama was expected to sign the bill into law next week, although changes to military policy probably wouldn't take effect for at least several months. Under the bill, the president and his top military advisers must first certify that lifting the ban won't hurt troops' ability to fight. After that, the military would undergo a 60-day wait period.

Repeal would mean that, for the first time in American history, gays would be openly accepted by the armed forces and could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out.

More than 13,500 service members have been dismissed under the 1993 law.

"It is time to close this chapter in our history," Obama said in a statement. "It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed."

The Senate voted 65-31 to pass the bill, with eight Republicans siding with 55 Democrats and two independents in favor of repeal. The House had passed an identical version of the bill, 250-175, earlier this week.

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Sen. Jim DeMint wanted to do that thing where one senator can demand that bills be read aloud in their entirety. DeMint was going to give the New START treaty and the omnibus spending bill the bedtime story treatment, until, apparently, Mitch McConnell made him back down. (But not before Harry Reid's press secretary got in this awesome zing. Hey, Harry Reid's press secretary, you wouldn't have to just impotently insult Jim DeMint's obstructionism on Twitter if your boss hadn't spent his tenure as majority leader enabling the obstruction by refusing to change archaic Senate rules allowing endless obstructionism!)

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Meanwhile, three former service members have filed suit in federal court arguing that the policy is unconstitutional. And the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has two more lawsuits in the pipeline. Repeal via the courts looks more likely now than it ever has before. While Republicans might enjoy that, because it would give them a chance to complain about activist judges, the Pentagon -- and lawmakers like Sen. Lieberman -- would much prefer legislative repeal to judicial repeal.

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No one seems to know exactly where everyone stands. It looked like Maine Senator Susan Collins agreed to vote for the defense authorization bill in exchange for four days of floor debate and 15 amendments, but Reid might think that's just another delaying tactic. So... Reid may hold a vote today, or this week, in which case Collins will almost certainly vote against it.

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Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada kept his post, as did Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, the minority leader.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin will continue as assistant majority leader, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York will stay on as vice chairman of the Democratic conference and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington will remain conference secretary.

On the Republican side, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona remains GOP whip, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee continues as Republican Conference chairman and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming remains conference vice chairman.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

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Perhaps "afterglow" is not exactly right. Or "awash."

Maybe I mean "profound relief." Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown, and Michael Bennet (amazingly) in Colorado, Patty Murray hanging on, and most of all, Harry Reid, HAR-RY, HAR-RY, HAR-RY. My man. Dawg! For me, holding the Senate and Harry Reid is almost up there with the Giants winning.

So maybe they have the Aqua Buddha, but we have two months to go with this House, this Senate, this president. People say that 10 days or two weeks is an eternity in politics, so two months is four or five eternities. Two months is eternity-plus-plus.

And that Obama is nothing if not brilliant. This guy has had some liberal victories legislatively, and when word of these victories -- the realities of healthcare, financial reform, student loan reform, etc. -- trickles out, we will have pride and stamina again. We will experience grace again, the grace of generosity to the underdog; the grace of second winds, and psychic WD-40. The grace of unseen water wings.

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