Today in Washington D. C. - Dec 19, 2007

Senate reconvened at 11:30 AM today No more roll call votes are expected in the Senate this session.

Last night, the Senate confirmed judge John Tinder of Indiana to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, the Senate passed a $555 billion omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2764, formerly the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill) by a vote of 76-17, after senators adopted an amendment 70-25 by Sens. McConnell and Lieberman to add $70 billion to fund the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the first vote of the evening, cloture was not invoked on the House-passed omnibus bill, which did not include Iraq funding. Prior to passing the McConnell-Lieberman amendment, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sens. Feingold and Reid to begin a withdrawal from Iraq and cut off funding for the war by a vote of 24-71. Also rejected was an amendment offered by Sen. Levin to express the sense of Congress that troops in Iraq should be transitioned “to a more limited set of missions.”

The Washington Post reported, “Democrats had vowed only weeks ago to withhold any Iraq-specific money unless strict timelines for troop withdrawal were established, but they instead chose, on a 70 to 25 vote, to remove what appeared to be the final obstacle to sending the spending bill to the White House, where Bush has indicated he will sign it.”

For the second time, the Senate rejected a patch to the alternative minimum tax that would have simultaneously raised taxes. Democrats failed to include an AMT patch coupled with tax hikes in the bill, so it is now up to the House to pass the Senate version of the patch, which prevents over 20 million taxpayers from being affected by the AMT without raising taxes.

Democrats appear to have even decided to throw in the towel on SCHIP, according to The Hill today: “After coming up short in their efforts to enact a $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) — enduring two presidential vetoes along the way — congressional Democrats signed off on Republican demands to extend the program until 2009.”

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