While Barack Obama pretends to care about the fiscal cliff – in reality, he’s all to happy to watch Americans’ tax rates rise across the board, and to cut spending on the military dramatically, even if it means economic failure – his Democratic counterparts in the Senate can’t hide their apathy. Today, the Senate decided to close down until after Thanksgiving. The Senate has passed no major legislation since the election, despite the fact that Democrats have a significant majority. Congressional leaders are slotted to meet with President Obama today, but they won’t be back in session until the week after next. Democrats are putting real negotations off, Politico reports, until December.

The Senators don’t need another vacation. They just had a five week vacation in August. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is unconcerned. After all, the closer we edge to the fiscal cliff, the easier it will be for him to argue that the dangers of the cliff require Republicans to cave. And if they hit the fiscal cliff, as Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) has said, no big deal.