Scheduling

The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m., and in the afternoon it will start a series of amendment votes at 4 p.m. on the gun legislation, S. 649, the Safe Communities and Safe Schools Act.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Tuesday night that an agreement was reached to vote on nine amendments. The first vote will be on language from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), which would scale back the background check requirements in the current bill.

The Senate reached an agreement Tuesday evening to hold several amendment votes on the gun control bill on Wednesday.

The Senate will start with nine amendments Wednesday — the first being a proposal from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), which will receive a vote around 4 p.m.

Next week is a critical one for gun control, as the Senate returns to get a better feel for what mix of new restrictions can pass the upper chamber, and possibly have a chance in the House.

This week, the Senate formally agreed to consider the bill, which calls for universal background checks on gun sales, increased funding for school safety, and tougher penalties against "straw" purchases. But the real contents of the bill will only be known after what could be a lengthy amendment process.

The House on Friday is expected to pass legislation that would permanently repeal a requirement that senior government officials post details of their finances online.

That requirement was put into place last year by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. That law was designed to provide transparency about the finances of members of Congress and senior officials, and to make sure they are not benefiting financially from their knowledge as government operatives.

The Senate is still working toward an agreement to a vote on the motion to proceed to the gun control reform bill.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide said that a few Republicans were still holding up the bill.

The Senate will hold a key procedural vote Thursday that may provide some clues as to the willingness of senators to pass gun control legislation.

The Senate will start work at 9:30 a.m., and by 11 a.m. it will hold a roll call vote on a motion to end debate on a motion to proceed to S. 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled a vote on the nomination of Sally Jewell to lead the Interior Department for Wednesday evening.

The House returns from its Easter break Tuesday, and will meet at 2 p.m. for legislative work on three bills dealing with energy and land use.

Each of the three House bills are suspension bills, which means less debate and a two-thirds majority vote required for passage. The bills are:

The Senate meets at 2 p.m., but instead of holding a vote on a judicial nomination, senators are expected to postpone that vote until Tuesday.

That means senators who may be in town will be free to deliver speeches on the Senate floor, but no votes are scheduled.

Congress returns to work next week, just days after a ghastly March unemployment report that will likely refocus the congressional conversation on job creation.

Both parties started to stake out their positions on Friday. Republicans say job growth fell off because of the rising federal debt and administration regulations, including the pending implementation of ObamaCare. Democrats were blaming the poor report on the sequester and Republican opposition to replacing part of the budget cuts with tax increases.