Scheduling

President Obama will continue his meetings with members of Congress today in the hopes of finding common ground on taxes and spending, despite mounting evidence that an agreement on taxes and spending may be impossible to reach.

Obama meets with Senate Republicans shortly after noon, and in the mid-afternoon he'll meet with House Democrats.

A day after House Republicans proposed eliminating President Obama's healthcare law, House GOP leaders and Obama will have a nice, friendly morning meeting in the Capitol. Then, the House will return to work and vote to kill an Obama administration plan that Republicans say will make people more dependent on welfare.

Obama's planned meeting with House Republicans is part of Obama's "charm offensive" that has him meeting with both parties in both houses of Congress this week.

The Senate starts work at 10 a.m. and is expected to begin debate on the 2013 continuing resolution, but the real topic of debate will be the Senate Democratic lunch with President Obama.

The meeting with Democrats is the first of several meetings the president will take with members of Congress this week. Obama is hoping to use them to lay the groundwork for progress on issues like the budget, immigration and gun control later this year.

The Senate meets at 2 p.m., and at 5 p.m. it will start debate on two district court judges.

Votes on the two judges — Gary Taranto for the Federal Circuit and Andrew Gordon for the District Nevada — are expected at 5:30 p.m.

It's now the Senate's turn to pass a spending bill for the rest of fiscal year 2013.

The House approved its version of the bill this week, which many Democrats opposed because it locks in the $85 billion sequester. Senate Democrats will try to include language giving the Obama administration more flexibility to implement the sequester, by letting federal agencies shift money between programs.

Reid frequently warns the Senate of possible Saturday votes, but rarely follows through.

On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) filibustered the nomination of John Brennan to be the next CIA director for nearly 13 hours. During that time, he repeatedly called on the Obama administration to say it would not use drones against Americans on U.S. soil.

On Thursday, the Senate will pick up from where Paul left off at 12:39 a.m.

Reid is asking Republicans to agree to an up-or-down vote for Brennan that would be subject to a 60-vote margin.

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.

The House starts at 10 a.m., and at noon it will consider two suspension bills. They are:

H.R. 668, requiring presidential budgets to include estimates of the cost of the deficit per taxpayer, and,