Frustrated at a long list of positive Democratic accomplishments since Obama was inaugurated, Republicans in the Senate have settled in to abuse their filibuster power and block as much as they can, hoping we will forget the accomplishments and forget who is blocking further accomplishments.

To wit, this last week saw the GOP filibustering two high-profile efforts to improve things:

• Small Business Loans: As the next step in their year-long effort to inflict pain on the American people and block all efforts to improve the economy, yesterday GOP Senators "held together to filibuster a bill to aide small businesses."  The bill would have "creat[ed] a $30 billion government fund to help open up lending for credit-starved small businesses."  That is, it would have helped small businesses grow and create jobs.  The GOP was having none of that.
• The DISCLOSE Act would have required "fuller disclosure of the money behind political advertising," forcing "corporations, unions and other groups to reveal the donors behind their political ads."  [ NOTE: Though it failed in the Senate, the bill passed in the House.  But Mark Kirk, our would-be Republican Senator, accepted maximum contributions from Citizens United and then voted against the bill, per their wishes. ] The GOP was having none of that.

With the GOP having cynically and continuously used its filibuster power to impede progress on almost everything over the last two years, small wonder our Senator Durbin is at the same time urging us to elect a filibuster-proof majority, so we can make more progress for the American people, and supporting Filibuster Reform.