Monday: Sandy relief in the Senate

The Senate meets at 2 p.m. for speeches, and at 4:30 p.m. will start debate on H.R. 152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act.

The House bill would spend $50.7 billion to help with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. While it is not exactly what the Senate approved earlier this year, the upper chamber will likely pass it today.

The House bill does not include some of the money the Senate approved for disaster relief outside the zone affected by Sandy. House Republicans saw that as an unnecessary expense that should not have been placed in an emergency supplemental spending bill.

At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on an amendment from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to offset the cost of the bill with discretionary spending cuts. That proposal needs 60 votes to pass, which means it is nearly certain to fail in the Democratic Senate.

After that, 60 votes are needed to pass the entire bill.

The House is out all week, and returns next Monday.

---