The House on Thursday approved a manager's amendment to H.R. 1249, the patent reform bill.

Members approved the amendment in an 283-140 vote that saw significant splits within each party. Democrats were nearly evenly split: 107 voted against it and 81 voted for it. Among Republicans, 33 voted against it while 202 supported it.

The House on Thursday afternoon approved the rule for the Defense Department Appropriations Act, H.R. 2219.

The rule was approved after a brief debate in a 251-173 vote. Sixteen Democrats voted with all but one Republican in favor of the rule.

The Senate voted 47-51 Thursday to kill an amendment offered by Sen. Vitter (R-La.) to defund White House policy 'czars'.

The House on Friday is expected to consider legislation from Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) that would prohibit the use of any Department of Defense funds from being used to fund military operations in Libya.

The bill, H.R. 2278, would only allow funds to be used in Libya if specifically authorized by law, except for search and rescue, intelligence, aerial refueling and operational planning.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday morning said bipartisan talks on the looming debt-ceiling crisis are struggling because President Obama is failing to lead or even participate in the talks by proposing solutions.

"Where in the world has President Obama been for the last month?" McConnell asked on the Senate floor. "Where is he? What does he propose? What is he willing to do to reduce the debt and to avoid this crisis that's building on his watch?"

Members of Congress in the last few days have introduced several bills related to Libya and the War Powers Resolution, as the House is expected to vote Friday on resolutions to authorize and defund the Libya operation.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and several others introduced their authorization resolution Wednesday, and the House on Friday is expected to vote on an identical measure. However, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted on Wednesday that the House would not support that language.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Thursday morning said he is not qualified to assess whether it makes tactical sense to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, and implied that others in Congress are equally unqualified due to the lack of information from the Obama administration.

"I don't yet know what's going on tactically on the ground," King said in a C-SPAN interview Thursday morning.

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches and then at noon to continue legislative work, which includes work on H.R. 1246, the America Invents Act.

Members on Thursday debated one of 15 amendments to the bill, which would substantially reform U.S. patent law. The remaining 14 are expected to be debated and voted on today.

Key House Democrats late Wednesday night said they have serious reservations about a patent reform bill