Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that he plans to call Bryce Harper's parents today after the Washington Nationals' star outfielder injured himself running into a wall Monday night.

"I told the Republican leader I was going to talk to his family," Reid said Tuesday morning on the Senate floor with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "I'll talk to his mom or dad to find how he's doing."

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling on the Obama administration to fire officials involved in the IRS's decision to target conservative groups, and to seek criminal charges against them.

"President Obama should terminate the individuals responsible for targeting and willfully discriminating against Tea Party groups and other conservative groups," Paul's resolution reads.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said House Republicans needed to “look in the mirror” on who is to blame for the “Benghazi scandal.”

“Start by looking in the mirror,” Boxer said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Admit that you cut too much from embassy security.”

McConnell demanded Obama give Congress full access to every IRS official involved in the targeting decision.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Republicans are blocking the Senate and House from forming a conference committee on the budget for the “nakedly partisan reason” of creating another economic crisis.

“It’s obvious [Republicans] are delaying [the budget] for one nakedly partisan reason: they hope to put off a compromise long enough to create another manufactured crisis, as the nation once again approaches the debt limit,” Reid said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) returned to the Senate floor Monday to call on Congress to pass gun control reforms.

Murphy said that nearly 4,000 people have been killed in the United States by guns since Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman killed 20 first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) called on lawmakers to ask critical questions about the immigration bill because he said an influx of new legal workers would drive down wages in America during a time of slow economic growth.

“I urge my colleagues, before we rush out and sign up for an immigration proposal … somebody ask the question what is it doing to recent college graduates as well as low-skilled workers," Sessions said on the Senate floor Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the House Republican plan to prioritize federal debt is “totally irresponsible” and would lead to a government default.

“If we pay China but not our troops serving overseas, we're in default,” Reid said Monday. “The Republican approach with default is totally irresponsible. Republicans know this risky measure is a nonstarter in the Senate, and even if it could pass the Senate, which it won't, President Obama would veto it.”

Calling allegations "troubling," Reid says Senate will act if IG report finds need for more investigation.

The Senate starts at 2 p.m., but has no votes scheduled. Instead, senators will have a chance to continue debating S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act, if they wish.

Some may also choose to make comments about the growing scandal about the IRS decision to audit tea party groups. Others may talk about the three nominations up this week, including Secretary of Energy nominee Ernest Moniz.