The Senate has a busy week ahead.
The threat of another crippling government shutdown loomed large as a small bipartisan group of congressional leaders worked toward a budget deal that the Senate is expected to vote on this week.
President Obama has seen nine of his nominees confirmed since Wednesday. No longer able to block nominees with filibusters, Republicans are instead resorting to slowing down the process. Reid said Thursday that those tactics were “wasting all this time” that should be spent on “substantive issues” like funding the government and the military.
Votes are scheduled Monday to confirm Anne Patterson as an assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and Jeh Johnson as the new head of the Department of Homeland Security. Votes are also likely on Janet Yellen’s nomination to head the Federal Reserve and on Roberts Wilkins, another nominee to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
After Monday’s votes on Patterson and Johnson, focus will shift to the budget compromise.
Without a deal, another government shutdown looms in January. There would also be no relief from the across the board spending cuts known as the sequester that have wreaked havoc on budgets for everything from food stamps to military training.
Despite the threat of a shutdown, Democrats are still struggling to collect enough votes to pass the Murray-Ryan deal.
Illinois’ Dick Durbin, the Senate’s second most powerful Democrat, said Sunday on “Face the Nation” that they still need “about eight more Republicans to come our way” to pass the compromise.
While Congress has not yet reached a
One issue that will not be addressed before the end of the year is the debt limit.
Paul Ryan indicated on Sunday that the GOP would be willing to once again hold the debt limit hostage to win concessions.
“We as a caucus – along with our Senate counterparts – are going to meet and discuss what it is we’re going to want out of the debt limit,” Ryan said on Fox News Sunday. “We don’t want nothing out of this debt limit. We’re going to decide what it is we’re going to accomplish out of this debt limit fight.”
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has not yet said when the U.S. will once again exhaust its borrowing authority, but it will be within the first few months of 2014.