Senate

The Senate adjourned on Thursday night shortly before 7 p.m., just after it quickly passed a one-year extension to the Small Business Act.

The Senate approved the bill, S. 990, by unanimous consent. It extends certain authorities of the Small Business Administration from May 31, 2011 through May 31, 2012.

The Senate also approved three minor resolutions, and adjourned until 2 p.m. May 23.

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday night blasted for-profit colleges that he said don't always provide quality education and can leave prospective students in debt. In particular, he criticized an advertisement saying you can get an education while staying at home in bed in your pajamas.

"The ad that just really troubles me shows a lovely young woman who says you can go to college in your pajamas," he said. "You don't even have to get out of bed to go to college, and she's got a computer on her bed there."

House and Senate leaders have reached a deal to extend three expiring Patriot Act surveillance authorities for four years. 

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Thursday called on the Obama administration to adopt "more robust rules of engagement" in the ongoing U.S. battle against piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

"My hope for the future is that we can have far more robust rules of engagement empowering … commanders … to eliminate the threat of piracy," said Kirk.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said he is working on bill that would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to wave debt owed by individuals who were mistakenly given disaster assistance by the government.

The bill would allow FEMA to forgive debts from individuals who benefited from their services under the following circumstances:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday he believes University of California Professor Goodwin Liu has a "repugnant" view of how judges should act and that he therefore will vote against his confirmation to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

On the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, McConnell said Liu wrote recently that the 2010 election gives liberals a "tremendous opportunity" to implement the "progressive vision" of the Constitution and U.S. law.

Two senior Republican senators on Thursday noted that the Senate had not passed a full year's budget for 750 days and suggested Democrats are incapable of producing a plan that works.

"I think they are paralyzed, actually, by putting a plan on paper," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee. "They are not able to produce a budget that their caucus supports, that the American people would support that would get a job done.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday he opposes the confirmation of Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in large part because Liu seems to have dramatically reversed his judicial philosophy after being nominated.

"This has been about the most stunning confirmation conversion I've seen in all my time in the Senate," the six-term senator said on the floor.

Reid's approach differs from legislation backed by House Republicans as well as proposals from other Democrats.

The Senate will vote on Goodwin Liu, President Obama’s controversial nominee to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on Thursday afternoon.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled a cloture vote for 2:15 p.m.

Expect a feisty exchange of words on the Senate floor Thursday morning. Conservatives who oppose Liu fault him for a variety of reasons, including his opposition to two justices nominated by former President George W. Bush and confirmed to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.