Senate

Sen. Claire McCaskill criticized Eric Cantor for insisting aid for tornado-stricken Missouri must be offset in the budget.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Wednesday compared his call to bring down healthcare costs to President Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to the nation to put a man on the moon. 

"Now is the time for our country to set out a clear challenge, like President Kennedy did, to solve our healthcare cost problems," said Whitehouse.

"I come to the floor today to call for a similar challenge to reform our healthcare delivery system," said Whitehouse. "While the goal now is different, the urgency and the need to mobilize both public and private sectors towards a common and vital purpose is the same."

Whitehouse acknowledged the difficulty of bringing down healthcare costs.

"We choose to go to the moon this decade not because [these efforts] are easy, but because they are hard," said Whitehouse, paraphrasing Kennedy. 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) lashed out at Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday night, accusing the majority leader of breaking his word by not allowing amendments to the Patriot Act extension bill.

"Instead of honoring statements he made in February regarding allowing amendments and debate on the bill, Sen. Reid went through procedural hoops to go back on his word," Paul said. "By hurriedly attaching the extensions to the privileged small-business bill as an amendment, Sen. Reid denied the Senate the opportunity to debate the constitutionality of its provisions." 

Senate Democrats have decided to use a small-business extension bill as a vehicle for approving an extension of expiring Patriot Act authorities.

The Senate on Wednesday will debate the House version of S. 990, which would extend two small-business programs until the end of the current fiscal year. The Senate had passed a version extending the programs until May 31, 2012, but appears willing to take up the House version.

Sen. Paul's filibuster of the Patriot Act renewal, though circumvented, could still cause the law's powers to lapse this week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gently mocked Senate Democrats on Tuesday for so far failing to produce a fiscal year 2012 spending plan. 

 “They [Democrats] say they prefer the ideas the President outlined in a speech he gave last month,” McConnell said.  

“Well, unfortunately we can't vote on a speech ... but if that's what it takes to get Democrats engaged in this debate, maybe we should revisit the rules so we can actually vote on a speech,” said McConnell.

McConnell was referring to a address Obama made last month in which he laid out his vision for reducing the budget deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said lawmakers should reassure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his nation is "not alone" and that it still has a strong friendship with the Congress. 

McConnell's remarks come after Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected President Obama's call for new Middle East peace talks that would base the borders of a Palestinian state on those existing in 1967.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions is protesting Democrats' lack of a budget plan.

Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on Monday evening turned up the pressure on the Obama administration to clarify the U.S. military mission in Libya.

Lugar sent a letter to Obama that insists the administration seek congressional approval for continued operations in Libya. Lugar's letter said the administration had informed Congress on Friday "indicating that U.S. military operations in Libya -- which since April 4 have included suppression and destruction of air defenses and precision strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles -- will continue beyond the 60 day deadline specified in the War Powers Resolution, even though Congress has not authorized these operations."

Procedural vote puts the legislation on track to pass the Senate Wednesday with a simple majority.