CHANGE: Harry Reid pulls $1.1 trillion spending bill from floor. “Senate Democrats abruptly pulled down an omnibus spending bill after senior Republicans – caught with their hands in the cookie jar — deserted the measure in an effort to square themselves with tea party activists and conservatives in the party.” Thank you, Tea Party activists. Again. Plus this: “Democrats have only themselves to blame for failing to pass any of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the day-to-day operations of the government. At the same time, Republicans contributed mightily to this failure and are going through their own culture war — torn between the Senate’s old-bull pork-barrel ways and the more temperate fiscal gospel of their new tea party allies.” I’m happy the Tea Party folks are winning — but then, today was an auspicious day for that.

UPDATE: The Appropriators Buckle. “Tonight may indeed may be a ‘seminal moment,’ as McCain said. This was to be the appropriators’ last hurrah. In the end, they couldn’t see it through, and it’s not going to get any better for them next year. . . . Then, you had Mitch McConnell on the phone all day with Republican appropriators–Reid’s base of support on the bill–twisting their arms to come out against it. My understanding is that by the end he had all the appropriators committed against it, with the exception of two who were undecided. McConnell told the appropriators that passing this bill, and passing it this way, would represent a rejection of everything the mid-term election was about, and ultimately he prevailed.” Sometimes converts are the most fervent.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Brave Sir Harry Ran Away: “After exposing his party, the White House and himself to an avalanche of bad press and bipartisan criticism over the earmark-stuffed omnibus spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a sort of political Dunkirk moment, gave up and fled. . . . It is also a major win for the opponents of ObamaCare, who halted a billion dollars in funding for the legislation that they aim to repeal. It is also, of course, a defeat for the earmarkers, the business-as-usual crowd and Harry Reid.”