Wednesday: House to finish 2013 spending bill

The House will pass a 2013 spending bill on Wednesday, and then leave town before tons of snow turn Washington into giant shovel-ready project.

The House meets at 10 a.m., and will immediately start work on H.R. 933, a bill funding discretionary government programs for the rest of 2013.

Republicans originally planned on passing the rule for this bill today, and passing the bill itself on Thursday. But warnings of up to 8 inches of snow in Washington prompted House Republicans to change plans and finish the bill entirely on Wednesday, then leave for the week.

The bill would fund the government at $982 billion for the rest of the fiscal year, and shift about $10 billion for the Defense Department to give it more flexibility to deal with the sequester.

The spending levels provided in the bill will be the baseline from which the $85 billion sequester is taken.

Republicans plan to hustle the bill through the House before leaving in the early afternoon. The rule for the bill should be approved before noon, and the bill should be passed by 2 p.m. or so.

The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m., but has no plans to take up legislation. Instead, it will debate the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to be a U.S. circuit judge for the District of Columbia.

At 10:30 a.m., the Senate will vote on a motion to end debate on the Halligan nomination.

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