Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Thursday celebrated the reported killing of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, saying it was a victory for American troops as well as the Libyan people.

“We all saw the news that—yet to be confirmed—that Gen. [sic] Gadhafi is dead,” said Kirk, who was the first to speak from the floor on the killing. “This is a victory for our men and women in uniform, for the United States, for the administration, but most importantly for the people of Libya.”

The bill would make changes to the Lacey Act, which bans the import of illegally traded wood for musicians and music retailers.

The Senate narrowly defeated an amendment on Thursday that would have established a commission to research avenues for reparing the "broken" criminal justice system after Republicans said it would encroach on states’ constitutional rights to conduct their own affairs. 

“We are absolutely ignoring the Constitution if we do this,” argued arch-conservative Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). “We have no role … to involve ourselves in the criminal court system or the penal system in my state or any other state.”

The Senate on Thursday defeated an amendment that would have made it easier for individuals to get prescription drugs from Canada for personal use.

"This amendment would allow the importation of small personal-use quantities of safe FDA-approved prescription drugs from Canada alone," argued Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the amendment's author. "It is a very modest amendment."

The measure would have prohibited the Food and Drug administration from blocking such imports.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Heather Higginbottom to be the deputy director of the White House budget office despite fierce opposition from Republicans who said she lacks sufficient budgetary experience. 

Ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spearheaded the fight against the nominee, prior to the 64-36 vote,  arguing her political experience did no qualify her to run the Office of Management and Budget.  

“Ms. Higginbottom has no real budget experience,” said Sessions from the Senate floor late on Wednesday night. "She would be the least qualified nominee to hold this post in decades.”

During her committee examination Sessions also said confirming her would be like “appointing a wartime general who has never had a day of military service."

House Republicans are readying a bill for next week that would approve a land swap between the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and an Arizona copper mining company.

The House Rules Committee has posted H.R. 1904, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, on its website, a sign the committee is preparing to approve a rule for that bill and move it to the floor.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday attacked Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for having said that the private sector was weathering the recession "just fine." 

"For Democrats the solution [to the jobs crisis], apparently, is to increase the number of people who work for the government,” McConnell said from the floor. “My good friend the majority leader made this pretty clear yesterday when he said the private sector is ‘doing just fine’ and that the president's latest stimulus is focused on government jobs instead."

Freshman Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) on Thursday accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of being "out of touch" for saying private-sector job growth has been "just fine."

"It's clear that Harry Reid could not be more out of touch," Black said. "The national unemployment rate has been over 9 percent for too long, and Americans across this country are hurting. I constantly hear from families who are struggling to get by, trying to constantly do more with less."

"We should not pile more taxes on the backs of working families and job creators," Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday.