A closer look at Sunday on Capitol Hill

Forget football, forget church, forget that trip to the mall to return that horrible yellow sweater — Congress will be in session on Sunday to pass bills, vote on nominations, and provide an update on the "fiscal cliff" talks.

Both the House and Senate return early Sunday afternoon in the hopes that some agreement can be reached to avoid, or at least alter, the fiscal cliff. Senate leaders said Friday after meeting with President Obama that they would work hard over the next two days to see if they could come up with an agreement.

Without a viable proposal, Obama has said Congress should at least have an up or down vote on a Democratic plan to keep current tax rates in place for taxpayers with income below $250,000.

It's unlikely that there will be a legislative proposal ready to go by early Sunday afternoon -- a vote on a new fiscal cliff plan would likely be Monday. The plan is to see if the Senate can amend a House-passed bill with a new cliff proposal, then send it back to the House.

Nonetheless, both chambers will be up and running Sunday shortly after noon.

The Senate meets at 1 p.m., which could be a time that Senate leaders provide an update on the status of cliff negotiations. At some point in the day, senators are expected to debate the nomination of Carol Galante to be an assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Senators will also consider the nomination of William Baer to be an assistant attorney general, and are expected to hold roll call votes on both nominees.

The House meets at 2 p.m. for legislative work, and will hold any needed recorded votes at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, House Republicans said up to 14 non-controversial suspension bills will be on tap for Sunday. They are:

-- H.R. 4057, the Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act, as amended by the Senate,

-- S. 3202, the Dignified Burial of Veterans Act,

-- H.R. 6328, the Clothe a Homeless Hero Act, as amended by the Senate,

-- H.R. 4212, the Drywall Safety Act, as amended by the Senate,

-- H.R. 5910, the Global Investment In American Jobs Act, as amended by the Senate,

-- S. 3472, the Uninterrupted Scholars Act,

-- H.R. 2076, the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act, as amended by the Senate,

-- H.R. 6029, the Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act, as amended by the Senate,

-- H.R. 6621, correcting the Leahy-Smith America Invents patent reform law, as amended by the Senate,

-- S. 3331, the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act,

-- S. 2318, the Department of State Rewards Program Update and Technical Corrections Act,

-- S.J.Res. 44, the Management Assistance Memorandum of Understanding,

-- H.R. 3159, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, as amended.

-- H.R. 6364, the Frank Buckles World War I Memorial Act, as amended by the Senate.

— This story was updated at 4:44 p.m. Saturday.

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