The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and will consider the nominations of James Cole to be deputy attorney general and Lisa Monaco and Virginia Seitz to be assistant attorneys general. Votes on these nominations are expected at noon.

After their return from weekly caucus lunches, senators will continue consideration of S. 679, the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act.

The Senate on Monday unanimously approved a resolution condemning China for intimidating neighbors in the South China Sea. 

The resolution, authored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations East Asian and Pacific Affairs subcommittee, is in response to several incidents in which China has acted aggressively with vessels from other countries in the South China Sea. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Monday Republicans were using the debt-ceiling debate to blackmail Democrats into forgoing tax increases on the wealthy as a tool toward balancing the budget. 

“Let us make it very clear that we will not be blackmailed … by the Republican leadership in Washington who are threatening to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States,” said Sanders. 

“That is their threat,” he said, adding that “Republicans here in Washington are acting like schoolyard bullies.”

Freshman Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) on Monday was the latest Republican to come to the floor and express frustration at Senate Democrats' lack of a budget proposal for fiscal 2012.

"This is failure to govern at the most basic level and the American people deserve better," Boozman said. "We need a budget that puts us on the path to fiscal discipline."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had a "productive" meeting with President Obama on Monday to discuss lifting the nation’s debt ceiling.

In his remarks from the Senate floor, Reid urged Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to put the economy first and focus on job creation when he meets the president at the White House later in the afternoon. 

“My Republican counterpart will meet with the president this afternoon,” Reid said. “I hope my Republican colleagues will put the economy ahead of politics.” 

“I hope they will join us to create jobs, and set aside their desire to please the Tea Party and defeat President Obama,” Reid said. “This is the way forward.”

Hours before meeting Obama, Sen. McConnell claimed any deal with tax hikes would fail to win support in Congress.

Freshman Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) and 38 other members of the House — mostly Republicans — introduced legislation last week that would deny burial rights to U.S. veterans found guilty of sexual abuse against children.

Hartzler said she introduced her Hallowed Grounds Act after learning that some veterans who are guilty of sexual abuse against children are still buried with full military honors in veterans and national cemeteries.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) last week re-introduced legislation that would require abortion providers in states without parental notification requirements to notify parents about abortion procedures.

The bill, H.R. 2299, would also make it a federal offense to transport minors across state lines to avoid a state's laws requiring parental notification of abortions.

Sen. Durbin responded to GOP accusations that the president released the oil for political reasons.