The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m., and by 10:30 a.m. will start work on S. 1769, the Rebuild America Jobs Act. The bill is another piece of President Obama's jobs plan that the Senate hopes to move on its own.

Republicans can be expected to oppose the bill, as it imposes a new 0.7 percent tax on income earned above $1 million. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that this is a "teeny, tiny" tax on people who can afford it.

The two parties sparred over the proliferation of voter identification laws across the country.

How are House deregulation bills piling up in the Senate? According to House Republicans, increasingly like cord wood.

"We've been doing a whole lot over the last 10 months," Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) said Tuesday night. "Passed a lot of legislation, I think we've had about 800 votes. Unfortunately, a lot of those good ideas are stacking up like cord wood over in the U.S. Senate."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday night filed for cloture on the motion to proceed to the next installment of President Obama’s jobs bill, setting the wheels in motion for a possible vote later in the week.

Reid explained in filing the motion that he is hoping to reach an agreement with Republicans to allow the bill to proceed without a vote, but that he was acting to “protect” the legislation. If a vote were forced, it would take place on Thursday morning at the earliest.

Before adjourning the Senate at 6:57 p.m. on Tuesday night, Reid confirmed two minor executive nominees. The legislative body is set to return at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The House on Tuesday evening unanimously approved a bill that would require the Peace Corps to adopt a comprehensive sexual assault response training program, including practices that allow for Peace Corps volunteers to be removed from potentially dangerous situations overseas.

The House approved the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, S. 1280, by a 406-0 vote.

The bill is a reaction to recent news stories that say volunteers have been sexually assaulted and even killed. Back in January, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) accused the Peace Corps of trying to cover up the rape of nearly 1,000 volunteers over the last decade.

The bill was approved by the Senate in late September, and House passage moves it to the Senate for President Obama's signature.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Tuesday suggested he believes the Congress is too engaged in the work of reducing the nation’s deficit at the neglect of other critical issues.

“For much of our time lately we have been mired down in the politics of deficit and debt,” said Blumenthal. “[D]eficit cutting cannot be used as an excuse to gut the social safety net that we have labored hard to create over 75 years.”

The House on Tuesday evening approved a non-controversial bill aimed at keeping state taxes low on wireless phone service companies.

By voice vote, the House approved H.R. 1002, the Wireless Fairness Act. That bill would impose a five-year moratorium on new "discretionary" state and local taxes. Supporters of the bill argue that states have jacked up taxes on these companies over the last decade, and that the companies suffer from a local tax burden that is several times higher than other companies face.

More than 70 Democrats supported the bill, and as such, passage under a suspension of House rules was not in doubt.

Rep. Randy Forbes said the president and other officials often forget that "In God We Trust" is the national motto.

The ranking chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) ripped the White House on Tuesday for falling short of promises for transparency President Obama made during his first presidential campaign.

“In 2008, I was glad to hear the president-elect talk about the most transparent government ever that he was going to institute under his administration,” said Grassley. "Unfortunately, up to this point this administration has been far from transparent."