Republican vandals slash tires of the Senate

Most americans know that majority vote exceeding 50% can pass a bill. And some know that a bill can be filibustered indefinitely by the minority. Some know about cloture, in which a supermajority vote of 60% can end a filibuster. Very few people however are aware that some of the most basic procedures within the Senate require unanimous consent. To simply allow a bill to be debated requires that 100% of the senate are willing to let the process of debate commence. The process is usually simple, and a long history of courteousness usually makes it look like this:

mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business and senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.
the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered.

Individual Republicans have increasingly started leveraging this ancient parliamentary formality as the ultimate power play. Why work together with your caucus to create a unified NO during a formal vote, when you can take matters into your own hands, 'hold' formal progress of the underlying proceedings process, and gum up the lawmaking machinery of the entire country all by your lonesome? Classic game theory applies, and by taking such a non-cooperative role, a single individual can often walk away with many rich spoils at the expense of the rest of the population.

Jim Bunning, Senator from Kentucky, used a senate unanimous consent hold for 4 straight days to obstruct a one month extension of unemployment benefits. Bunning sought Pay-Go principles be upheld and that the benefits be paid for with Recovery Act funds rather than increase the deficit. Bunning ultimately folded amidst lack of support from his own party only after causing a 1 day furlough of 2000 government transportation workers and squandering nearly a week of Senate time.

Richard Shelby, Senator from Alabama, invented the unprecedented 'blanket hold' in which he vowed to obstruct all procedural requests to proceed on debate and discussion of the confirmation 70 nominees by the Obama administration a meer week after Obama was inaugurated. Shelby sought over $35 billion in pork for his state in the form of military contracts in exchange for lifting his hold.