The House is not in session today.
In the Senate, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
Convenes: 9:30am
Morning business with Senator Sanders recognized to speak at 10:15am.
Wow, awesome, huh? Two failed cloture votes on the tax cut extension, a failed cloture vote on the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, a failed cloture vote on the Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act, a failed cloture vote on the DREAM Act, a failed cloture vote on the 9/11 first responders health care bill, and a failed cloture vote on the DOD authorization bill with DADT repeal. And then... nothing.
But is it really nothing? Well, here's the schedule for Monday. And at this point, we should just be glad there is a schedule for Monday. Sort of.
Votes:
The cloture vote on the motion to concur with respect to HR4853, with an amendment (Reid-McConnell tax amendment #4753: ) will occur at 3pm Monday, December 13.
Pretty much whatever anybody wanted to try to bring up next would have to wait a day or so, anyway, since whatever you'd want to vote on would require a cloture motion. And remember, filing a cloture motion means you have to let an entire calendar day pass after the day on which you file it before you can get a vote. So Saturday's the soonest they could move on anything they're starting from scratch with cloture on. And they were just in session last Saturday. So they're waiting for Monday instead.
And come Monday, it'll be the tax extension "deal."
What about all that we've heard about DADT coming as a stand-alone bill? Well, you won't see it on the schedule just yet. But it should be a relatively simple bill to prepare, and once it's ready, you'll see Reid use the Senate's Rule XIV procedure to bypass the committee process and get it on the calendar for floor consideration. But that's not an automatic ticket to the floor. There can still be a filibuster. In fact, several, at several different stages of the process. And it'll take a few days to line it up. But it won't have to go all the way through the committee process before it's being voted on again. Expect that next week as well.
Here's the committee schedule for the day:
Ha.
So there you have it. No votes today for anybody. Sanders on the floor, though -- always worth watching. Otherwise, see you next week, believe it or not!