Facebook Twitter Google plus Share Share this post Facebook Twitter Google plus close 5.16pm AEST08:16 Back to the Senate, Nationals senator John Williams is taking offence at the Labor suggestion that the Coalition looks after "the big end of town".
Nevada senator Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, said the agreement was nonetheless "fair".
Among the more irate has been the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who happens to be Kentucky's other senator.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who is challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's nomination in 2016, also voted against the bill for similar reasons.
Oregon senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat on the intelligence committee who has railed against NSA surveillance for years, praised the breakthrough but said the work is far from complete.
Liberal senator Bill Heffernan - whose campaign led to the Eight by Five slush fund inquiry Operation Credo - has been interviewed.
Appearing on ABC at the end of a week in which he declared a run for the Democratic nomination well to the left of Clinton, the independent senator from Vermont said on his first day as a candidate he had attracted 100,000 supporters and raised $1.5m at an average donation of $43.
The Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos is to appear before the New South Wales corruption watchdog on Thursday to give evidence about his role at an Obeid-linked company allegedly used to funnel taxpayers' money to the Liberal party.
Three days ago, Obama said the Massachusetts senator was "absolutely wrong" and accused her of speculating about the contents of the emerging 12-nation trade deal for personal gain.
Related: Elizabeth Warren on the presidency: Fifty shades of nay Warren, a senator for Massachusetts, is refusing to enter the race, to the frustration of liberal Democrats who have been imploring her to run.
Florida senator Marco Rubio, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Ohio governor John Kasich have all positioned themselves as accepting of gay couples when faced with questions ahead of the supreme court case.
