Today in Washington D. C. - Feb 6, 2008

On The Floor: The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and began an hour of morning business. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration the FISA reform bill (S. 2248). Votes are possible on amendments to the FISA bill today. It’s likely that the first amendments voted on would be among the 4 that will need 60 votes to be adopted. At 4:30 PM, the Senate will proceed to the economic stimulus bill (H.R. 5140). A cloture vote on the Reid amendment to the bill is scheduled at 5:45 PM. The Reid amendment includes the Finance Committee’s bill, an extra $1 billion in LIHEAP spending, and other spending proposals.

From Senate &b News Sources: It’s now been 19 days since the president first called for an economic stimulus package and the desire of Senate Democrats to play politics continues to delay passage of a bipartisan bill that has the support of the White House. Instead of working with Republicans to pass a bill with bipartisan provisions, Senate Democrats have boasted of forcing Republicans to take tough votes. According to The New York Times, “[Majority Leader Harry] Reid is hoping to strong-arm the Republicans into adopting the larger package favored by most Democrats and some moderate Republicans, or to compel them to vote against important provisions.” Reid has declared that there will be only one vote on modifying the stimulus package, which would be on an amendment that includes the Finance Committee bill and other extraneous spending, costing $40 billion more than the House package. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Republicans are hoping to block this amendment and subsequently offer an alternative amendment to make some changes, like ensuring that rebates will not go to illegal immigrants, while not increasing the overall size of the legislation.

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