establishment of the republican party that supports it, from henry kissinger and condoleezza rice and george w. h. broche. why is it you cannot get support for something like that from the republicans? >> a significant number republicans decided they would filibuster anything that did not fit their order of business. i have never seen a letter like this. i read it before. i will not read it again. but i have never seen a letter like this. 42, that is enough to block the senate from acting. you need 60. 42 senators signed a letter saying they will stop any legislative business that does not follow what they want to get done. so they are setting the agenda. what they're saying is that you have to do the taxing first and you have to do the government funding second. but we are not going to let anything else come first. even if you can i get those done. even if there is a week we waste trying to negotiate something on those items. there it is. we will not let the senate function on legislative business on until their priorities are dressed. i have never seen that before -- are addressed. i've never seen befo