Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 30, 2007

From Senate sources: Yesterday, Amtrak reauthorization bill (S. 294) passed (70 · 22) and referred to the House.

Senate return to SCHIP today. This version of the bill offers little improvement over the previous version of the bill. The Democrats’ handling of SCHIP is yet another example of their mismanagement of Congress. They spent months crafting a bill they knew the president would veto. Once that veto occurred, instead of trying to work out a compromise, Democrats spent two weeks running ads against Republicans before even holding a vote to override the veto which failed. Democrats then put together a hasty revision, which actually lost support in the House and are now trying to move it through the Senate, even though President Bush has said he will veto it.

Congress has not sent one spending bill to the president’s desk, something that hasn’t taken this long in 20 years. The Politico sums up Democrats’ mismanagement today: “Democrats have clearly chosen more politically expedient issues such as debating the war and keeping the SCHIP debate alive over the more fundamental job of passing appropriations bills.”

The "slow-walk" of Judge Mukasey continues. After demanding a new attorney general for months, Democrats got a nominee Sen. Schumer said could be confirmed “very, very quickly.” A number of Democrats have praised Judge Mukasey’s nomination and testimony.

On The Floor: The Senate reconvenes at NOON!
- Will consider the motion to proceed to the new SCHIP bill (H.R. 3963). Reid filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill and a vote is expected on the cloture motion later today. President Bush intends to veto this "version" of SCHIP as well.

- Next week, the Senate is may take up the $283 billion farm bill. Reid said he expects to spend a week on the bill, but it’s possible it could take longer than that.

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