PIPA is farther along than SOPA. It cleared its committe with no resistance in mere minutes and while Senator Wyden has apparently been delaying it through arcane Senate procedural rules I do not understand, there was news last week that it would be the first thing Reid brings before the Senate floor when they reconvene January 24. It has 40 co-sponsors (40% of the Senate!) so the odds are not good.
The general consensus I've seen on the net is that PIPA is less horrible than SOPA but still unacceptably bad. We've dealt the worse bill some serious blows in the last week, and now we need to turn out democratic/capitalist firepower on PIPA. Full blast.
Most things in the senate require a vote of 60 votes to accomplish, however, this usually doesn't happen and Harry Reid (or whoever is standing in for him on a given day) just asks for unanimous consent. If no one objects, then they proceed as if everyone voted for it. What Ron Wyden did was object to bringing the bill to the floor. Thus, it will require him to give consent or a vote of 60 Senators to bring the bill to the floor (which they wouldn't try to do unless they were sure it would work).
Most of the time, there are only a few people actually in the senate chamber. The person standing in for Reid, one Republican Senator, the person giving some sort of speech/statement into the record and for cspan, and whoever is next to do the same. Within each party, any Senator can (publicly or secretly) ask their representative in the chamber to object on their behalf. Ron Wyden did so publicly, in the past people have gotten riled up about "secret holds" where the leadership of the objecting side doesn't expose who objected. If Harry Reid really wanted to push for the bill, he could call a vote, which would put everyone on the record voting in favor or opposition on bringing it to the floor, but Senators hate being officially on one side or the other of a bill, so they usually wait until they can convince whoever has a hold to drop it (usually through giving them some sort of favor, etc).
The general consensus I've seen on the net is that PIPA is less horrible than SOPA but still unacceptably bad. We've dealt the worse bill some serious blows in the last week, and now we need to turn out democratic/capitalist firepower on PIPA. Full blast.