Wednesday: Transportation and judges in the Senate

The Senate on Wednesday is expected to finish work on S. 1813, the transportation authorization bill, which would finally give the House something to chew on when it returns next week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) predicted on Tuesday evening that the Senate would finish the bill by mid-Wednesday. Authorization for federal transportation spending expires at the end of this month, so the House has a few weeks to figure out whether and how to amend the Senate bill.

After the transportation bill is done, the Senate will take up 17 judicial nominations. This could come in the form of up to 17 cloture votes, if the two parties are not cooperating, or something much more simple than that if they are.

Senate Republicans have criticized Reid all week for seeking cloture votes on the nominees, a step they say sets up a needless confrontation and paints the GOP as the party obstructing the nominations. But they do point to last year's controversial recess appointments as the reason why these non-controversial nominations were delayed past last year.

The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m., and is expected to start the final round of voting on the transportation bill by 11:30 a.m. Votes on judicial nominations, in whatever form they take, are expected by 2:30 p.m.

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