Bundesrat approval was viewed as the final hurdle for Mr Schroeder in pushing through the reforms.
He being also the Bundesrat's chairman, this was not contested, and all was well.
Since the two parties could not agree, the state's Bundesrat members would normally have abstained.
But the Christian Democrats, with 24 seats, are themselves far from having a Bundesrat majority.
It would also leave the Bundesrat with less excuse for meddling in federal affairs.
He is a left-wing hardliner and organiser of his party's blockade of government legislation in the Bundesrat.
The Social Democrats helped create the jam in Bonn by blocking legislation in the Bundesrat, the upper house.
This arcane dispute, some fear, could well end in far-from-arcane political chaos, in the state capitals and the Bundesrat alike.
His Social Democrats lost control of the upper house, the Bundesrat, after a defeat in a state election in February.
So the Bundesrat's chairman, Klaus Wowereit, a Social Democrat, asked Manfred Stolpe, Brandenburg's Social Democratic premier, to clarify his state's position.
Tricky tax measures and spending cuts are looming and the Bundesrat has the power to veto at least some of them.
Indeed, their power to block reform, through their representation in the federal republic's second chamber, the Bundesrat, may nowadays be too much.
The Senate could have become a place where the regions were formally represented and could settle their differences, akin to Germany's Bundesrat.
The outgoing premier, Mr Klimmt, was the most vocal foe of the reforms and threatened to vote against them in the Bundesrat.
The conservatives have already said they will fight his tax plans when they come before the opposition-controlled Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament.
But Norbert Walter-Borjans, of the main opposition Social Democrats, told the Bundesrat it was a deal which made "honest taxpayers feel like fools".
It's likely the government bills will now be rejected by the Bundesrat, meaning Mr Schroeder would have to reach a compromise with the opposition.
Unless Britain moves to a fully federal system, therefore, the Bundesrat is unlikely to prove much of a model for a new House of Lords.
So if Berlin wants to let Brussels decide how to spend German taxpayers' money (with a bailout fund for example) the Bundestag and the Bundesrat must approve.
For one thing, the Bundesrat, now dominated by the opposition Social Democrats, is set to throw out a tax-reform plan being painfully stitched together by Mr Waigel.
All federal legislation relating to regional responsibilities needs Bundesrat approval and because this now includes nearly 60% of all new laws, the Bundesrat plays a key role.
The Bundesrat's remaining 18 seats are held by a supposedly neutral block of five regional coalition governments whose representatives would usually have abstained on so controversial an issue.
In effect, Bundesrat members act as delegates for their regional governments (which themselves are enormously powerful in Germany's federal system) and are often the key figures in those governments.
His ability to implement unpopular reforms will anyway be limited by the opposition conservatives' control of the Bundesrat, the upper house of the legislature, where Germany's 16 states are represented.
All Germany's Land barons have big leverage thanks to their seats in the Bundesrat, the second chamber of the Bonn parliament, which can veto some government bills and delay others.
Moreover, as a leading member of the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house, where the Social Democrats have lost their majority, Mr Biedenkopf could be well placed to help mediate and negotiate.
And with it goes the Social Democrats' hope of winning back the majority they recently lost in the Bundesrat, the powerful second chamber of parliament where the states are represented.
Thus the upper house, be it akin to the Lords, Senate or Bundesrat, would not be able to challenge the Commons as to supremacy but it would still be a democratically elected chamber.
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