Senate maneuvering by Democrats and Republicans is slowly clearing the stage for the main show: bipartisan deals on the expiring 2001 and 2003 tax rates, providing for fiscal 2011 funding for the government and perhaps more.
The Senate faces a herculean effort to resolve those and other top issues that have deadlocked for months, including ratifying an arms control treaty with Russia and renewing Pentagon programs.
Majority Leader Harry Reid is aiming to wrap up work for the year in the next two weeks. To get there, he laid out a dress rehearsal that opens with a judicial impeachment trial on Dec. 7 and four test votes on other Democratic priorities the next day.
The effort to bring up those four bills are not expected to succeed — similar to two weekend procedural votes on Democratic prescriptions (HR 4853) for extending the tax rates.
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By week’s end, Reid said, the Senate hopes to hear from White House and congressional negotiators seeking a compromise on tax rates and federal spending, making way for votes on the two biggest issues standing between the Senate and the exit doors.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for his part, also indicated that behind-the-scenes negotiations on the tax rates could yield a deal soon, and allow work to proceed on other legislative fronts. Until then, he reiterated that Republicans will likely hold up action on all other matters.
“We all know where we were last Christmas Eve; we don’t want to be the same place this Christmas Eve,” Reid, D-Nev., said Dec. 4. Last year, the Senate convened on a snowy Dec. 24 to pass its version of a health care overhaul.
The scheduled cloture votes on Dec. 8 will come on a move to take up a House-passed measure (HR 847) that would establish a medical program and reopen a compensation fund for individuals exposed to harmful debris from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Dec. 4 she is working with about a dozen Republicans to round up the votes needed. “There’s three or four who really are considering this strongly and very honestly, so I think we will be successful,” she said in discussing whether she can round up the 60 votes needed to limit debate on the measures.
Another cloture vote is slated on a bill (S 3991) to extend bargaining rights to police and firefighters in states that do not allow such public safety workers to join unions.
Democrats also will seek to break a logjam on an immigration bill (S 3992), commonly known as the DREAM Act, that would give some children of illegal immigrants a path to conditional legal status.
A procedural vote also is lined up for a bill (S 3985) that would provide one-time payment of $250 to Social Security recipients who have not received cost-of-living payments because inflation has not been high enough to trigger such adjustments.
Reid said that Monday, he will file for cloture to proceed to each of the four measures.
McConnell, R-Ky., reiterated Dec. 4 that all 42 Republicans signed a letter vowing not to vote to bring up other matters until Congress deals with the expiring tax provisions and funding for the government for fiscal 2011. “I’m optimistic we’ll stay on the things we ought to be doing, which was the point of the letter that we put out,” he said.
Before the procedural votes, the Senate will hold impeachment proceedings against G. Thomas Porteous Jr., a U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The House voted in March to impeach Porteous on charges of accepting gifts in exchange for official actions, falsifying and withholding information during a bankruptcy proceeding, making false statements as part of his Senate confirmation and receiving money from lawyers involved in a case he oversaw.
The Senate probably will deliberate in closed session after hearing closing arguments in the case and vote on whether to convict Porteous on each of the four articles of impeachment brought against him. A two-thirds vote is needed to convict, and a conviction on any of the four articles will remove the judge from office.
Reid said the impeachment proceeding could conclude Dec. 8, prior to the cloture votes on his four legislative priorities.
Concern Over New START
Republicans were quick to question the chamber’s ability to plow through Reid’s ambitious plans. Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said it threatens chances that the arms control treaty with Russia (Treaty Doc 111-5), known as New START, could be ratified in the lame-duck session.
“You show me how there’s time to do START,” Kyl said early Dec. 4 as debate over expiring tax provisions played out on the Senate floor.
Nonetheless, Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a key Republican negotiator on the treaty, said significant progress has been made on the outstanding policy differences between Democrats and Republicans involved in negotiations over ratifying the treaty.
“There’s lots of things that have been discussed in a very agreeable way, but getting the T’s crossed and I’s dotted is the next step, and we made some progress on that today,” Corker said Dec. 4 after a meeting in Kyl’s office that included Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. “Things continue to move along in a very constructive way. We’ve had some very fruitful discussions, and now what has to happen is making those discussions be real by documenting.”
But Corker cautioned that the crowded agenda could imperil ratification in the lame-duck session because Republicans want time for extensive floor consideration of the treaty.
“It’s an interesting calendar,” Corker said. “The worst possible scenario for bringing START up would be to do it in a way that’s rushed and crammed.”
Reid said still hopes “there’s time to do the START treaty” before the 111th Congress comes to a close.
And on dealing with taxes, McConnell said negotiations with the White House point to possible progress on other issues in the new Congress set to be sworn in Jan. 5. “It’s a healthy sign,” he said. “There’s probably been more conversations between the White House and Senate and House Republicans in the last two weeks than in the last two years.”
Last year, the Senate was, of course, in session and voting on both the health care overhaul (PL 111-148, PL 111-152) and an increase in the debt limit (PL 111-123) on Dec. 24. This year, Reid said he hopes the Senate can conclude its business by Dec. 17.
Lauren Gardner contributed to this story.
-- Brian Friel and Niels Lesniewski, CQ Staff
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