Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of last year's healthcare law, and said Monday afternoon that he hopes the high court ultimately strikes down the law.

"We've seen that the new healthcare law is not what the American people wanted, and I'm encouraged that this law will now be heard before the highest court in the land, and I am hopeful for their expeditious and judicial removal of the Affordable Care Act," Burgess said on the House floor.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned in his opening speech on Monday afternoon that the Senate might have to extend work into the planned Thanksgiving recess if senators do not cooperate to complete the large amount of legislation scheduled for this week. 

“We have a substantial amount of work to complete in the 10 days before Thanksgiving,” said Reid, speaking from the Senate floor. “We will stay here until the very last moment before the holiday if that’s what it takes to get these important tasks done. But with cooperation we can get it all done this week.”

“There is a deadline facing us, we have to get all this work done before this weekend; if not, we have to get it done before Thanksgiving,” he added.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)  will not endorse a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, the Columbia, S.C., Lake Wylie Pilot reported Monday morning. 

Vice President Biden offered some advice to Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday, telling him he ought to start taking advice from Michigan’s junior Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D).

"When Debbie Stabenow asks you for something, say yes the first time," Biden said in a speech on Sunday, as reported by the Michigan news site, MLive.com. "Don't say I have to check my schedule. Don't say I'm not sure. Just say yes.”

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the co-chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, said Sunday that he sees it as the "duty" of the so-called supercommittee to restructure federal healthcare programs.

"The duty is to put forth legislation that actually addresses our long-term structural debt," Hensarling said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "The president himself has said that the drivers of our debt are Medicare, Medicaid and healthcare. Nothing else comes close.

"So to me, what we really have to focus on is that duty, and that is to find programs, find a way to reform Medicare and Medicaid and our healthcare programs to get good retirement security and health security for our seniors at a cost that doesn't bankrupt our children," he added. "Frankly, if we don't find structural change, we will fail in our duty."

The Senate meets at 2 p.m., and after "morning" business will begin debate on H.R. 2354, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies appropriations bill. That bill is expected to become the second "minibus" spending bill, encompassing Energy and Water, Financial Services and General Government and State-Foreign Operations.

No votes are planned Monday on this bill.

The attorney general has embraced a new strategy, actively confronting and rebuffing the mounting criticism from lawmakers.

Congress faces several significant agenda items next week, including the three that have come to be seen as the biggest challenges in the 112th Congress — spending, deficits and jobs.

The must-do item of the week is the continuing resolution. The stopgap spending measure Congress approved in October lets the government operate through this Friday, and some extension through mid-December is expected as a minimum.

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday introduced legislation that would allow the U.S. to fund only those United Nations programs it supports, and condition U.S. financial support on a shift to voluntary funding for U.N. programs.

"This legislation is needed because the structure and bureaucratic culture of the organization often makes it impossible or, at best, downright difficult to achieve meaningful reforms," Rubio said. "It follows on the steps of previously successful congressional initiatives on this matter. Every previously successful American effort for reform at the U.N. has been accompanied with the threat of withholding our valuable contributions."