What is the VP's power

It seems that even fellow Dems don't like Joe. Why else would the Senate Dems do this?

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/07/biden-unwelcome-senate-huddles-where-cheney-wielde/

Washington — In a move to reassert Congressional independence at the start of the new presidential administration, the vice president will be barred from joining weekly internal Senate deliberations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun.
Reid’s decision to exclude Vice President-elect Joe Biden from the Senate arena where he spent most of his adult life is intended to restore constitutional checks and balances that tilted heavily toward the executive branch during the Bush presidency.

In the comments, there is the argument that Cheney was a bully, and that it twisted the powers of the VP in the Constitution. It really doesn't matter to me even though it should because if Cheney were a Dem, it would be they who say it was within the realms of power and the Reps who would have said it was a violation. Constitution games that Cheney played are par for the course in American government, as seen with HRC and the promotion to Sec State.

But the overall story talks more of how Biden is shunned and how the Dem Senate is regaining their independence. It is a good thing - if Cheney did overreach and "bullied" the Reps as the report implies, then many things that could have been avoided were ignored, like maybe the light approach to Iraq or even the 2005 Bankruptcy bill's changes. OTOH, Dems are infamous for hardheadedness and infighting, which could stymie important things like how to handle Iraq post surge or how to handle the recession. Either way, it's not pretty. But fun to watch if like me you can't stand Biden.