Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Congress is trying to wrap up its work and get out of town by December 17. Monday is potentially a critical day in the U.S. Senate as Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog explains:
Should be quite a week ahead. The Senate is going to take its first vote on the Obama/GOP tax deal later today [the Jon Kyl-Blanche Lincoln "Paris Hilton Amendment" re: the estate tax] – sometime after 2 PM ET. It's a vote to invoke cloture and all indications are that it will pass. On this one, the Senate will move to debate and final passage. Then, it's over to the House. (Can't wait to see what Bernie Sanders has planned for today.) [What about the threatened filibuster by Tea Party darling Sen. Jim DeMint?]
Once the tax bill is done, the Senate calendar should clear to provide space for other issues. START remains a top priority for the President. There will be a vote on the House-passed DREAM Act and, then, there's the DADT repeal. It's a free-standing bill so only needs an up-or-down vote. Several GOPers besides Susan Collins, including Brown and Murkowski, claim to support repeal. So, the big question is how this plays out. Should be a no-brainer. Our allies will have to file cloture, but we should have the votes needed. Let's see if Collins can deliver. If we start hearing noises about the need for amendments or a lot of time for debate, we'll know that Mitch McConnell has told his caucus that the bill won't pass. Don't forget, McConnell is really calling the shots here, not Collins.
I would ask you to call the office of Arizona's twin embarrassments on these bills but they don't care what you think. We already know how they are going to vote: yes on the tax compromise, no on the DREAM Act and DADT repeal, and perhaps split on the New START treaty (McCain has indicated support but you never really know with this flip-flopper).
It's just another Manic Monday.