Today in Congress/Open Thread

In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:

FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
House meets at 1:00 p.m. for Legislative Business
No votes are expected

Members are advised that the House will reassemble at 1:00 p.m., at which time Member-elect Marcia Fudge (OH-11) will be sworn in.

In the Senate, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:

Convenes: 9:30am
Morning Business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.3297.

Not long ago, the hope in the Congress was that this week's lame duck session would be spent on further economic recovery measures. But without agreement ahead of time that whatever they work on won't just be filibustered or vetoed, it's not looking like a whole lot's going to happen. There aren't even any votes scheduled in the House, though they'll be convening to swear in Marcia Fudge, who'll be filling the seat of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who passed away in August.

Over on the Senate side, further consideration of whether or not to filibuster consideration of all the bills previously filibustered by Crossword Tommy Coburn. Yes, it's the continuing saga of the "Tomnibus."

The last go-round on which there was a vote featured a failed cloture motion that garnered 52 votes, including Lieberman's and those of three Republicans: Coleman, Smith and Warner. Pending the outcome of the Minnesota race, all three could be replaced by Democrats in January.

Just as a reminder, we'll be kicking off our Congress-watching blog just as soon as we get the kinks worked out. So for those wondering how the role of the Daily Kos community can evolve under our new circumstances, this could perhaps be part of the answer: a closer look at the mechanics, procedure, politics and personalities who'll actually undertake the business of governing. The more you know... blah, blah, blah.

Stay tuned for further details.