Senate

The Senate on Tuesday afternoon will vote on whether it should take up a House-passed patent reform bill similar to legislation already deliberated on and cleared by the upper chamber earlier in the year.

The America Invents Act, H.R. 1249, would change the U.S. from a first-to-invent to a first-inventor-to-file patent system, a move proponents say would bring the U.S. patent system closer to systems already used by most of the rest of the world.

Baucus, a member of the supercommittee, has placed a suggestion form on his website that only Montana residents can use.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Friday morning that the best way Washington can contribute to job creation is to provide a stable business environment by taking on big issues such as deficit reduction and tax reform, and avoid "fiddling" around the edges.

Speaking on CNBC, Corker said calls for Washington to do anything beyond creating a sound business environment, such as trying to promote job growth in specific sectors, reflect a "hyper-focus" on Washington that he said can yield some "really negative results."

A handful of Senate committees are planning committee work next week, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will assess Afghanistan's economic development on Thursday.

The Senate Finance Committee meets Thursday to examine tax reform options. This committee will also meet Wednesday to hold a hearing on the nominations of several trade-related officials.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) on Wednesday said Congress can be expected to act on recommendations from a commission that said the United States has lost at least $31 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan, through both ineffective government operations and waste, fraud and abuse related to private contractors.

Webb was responding to a report from the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which was created in 2008 and released its report Wednesday.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday said he believes Congress will take up tax reform in November.

"I really do think one of the things we'll take up in November is tax reform," Corker said according to Volunteer TV, a CBS affiliate station.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) this week introduced legislation calling for $6 billion in spending to improve and expand land ports of entry between the United States and its major trading neighbors, Canada and Mexico, and to add thousands of border agents.

Speaking in Hidalgo, Texas, Cornyn said the bill is aimed at maintaining the critical business links the United States has with its trading partners that will help maintain needed jobs. He said much of the work should involve fixing and expanding the deteriorating bridges between the United States and its neighbors.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted President Obama on Tuesday, saying the president had pursued "all the wrong things" since taking over the White House.

"If government spending worked, we'd be in a boom," said McConnell, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News. "He [Obama] cannot figure this out."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday said that although he supports a constitutional amendment mandating that Congress balance the federal budget, the proposal has little chance of passing this year.

“I don’t think we’re going to get one passed this year but it’s getting attention,” said Grassley, as reported by the Bulletin Review.

A vote on a version of the balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution is guaranteed in both chambers later this year as part of the compromise to lift the nation’s debt ceiling, forged between Congress and the White House earlier this month. 

While leaving the door open to the possibility of running for reelection, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Monday said he still plans to vacate his Senate seat at the end of his term.

“Pending some unforeseen circumstances,” DeMint said he will not run for re-election in 2016 according to The State.