Reid says Senate will stay in session through weekend

The Senate will likely remain in session through the weekend to wrap up unfinished business, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Reid (D-Nev.) insisted that the upper chamber complete work on at least four priority issues before adjourning.

"But it's clear, I have spoken on many occasions with the Republican leader — we are going to be in session this Sunday. There is work to do," Reid said. "We hope that we can complete what we have to do here a day or two after Saturday."

Leaders had aimed to bring the lame-duck session of Congress to an end by Friday, but it has become clear with several agenda items left unfinished that lawmakers will continue working close to Christmas.

The Senate is set to take a final vote Thursday on President Obama's tax-cut deal, sending it to the House.

Reid said that he also would like to vote on immigration legislation called the DREAM Act, a 9/11 first responders healthcare bill, the START nuclear arms accord and several Obama administration nominees.

Should the House pass it, the upper chamber could also take up standalone legislation that repeals the military's ban on openly gay service members and also an omnibus spending bill.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) railed against the $1.1 trillion, 1,900-page omnibus measure in his floor address.

"Americans told Democrats last month to stop what they’ve been doing: bigger government, 2,000-page bills jammed through on Christmas Eve, wasteful spending," he said in reference to the healthcare law. "This bill is a monument to all three."

Reid has threatened to re-open the lame-duck session after Christmas if lawmakers do not accomplish enough before the holiday.

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