Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says the U.S. Senate is unable to function and things have never been worse than now.
"It's worse than it's ever been, and I've watched it for a long time," Alexander told
The Tennessean newspaper.
He says one such example is a recent bill to extend long-term unemployment benefits.
The bill is in limbo because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid restricted the number of amendments on the legislation and set a 60-vote threshold for each to pass — conditions rejected by GOP lawmakers, according to the Tennessean.
The newspaper says Alexander had his own proposal to reform a federal job training program, but "Reid feared that allowing such amendments would delay the bill and invite Republicans to try again to roll back parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act."