House Republicans want to study whether U.S. debt held by China represents a national security threat.

The House convenes at noon for speeches and then 2 p.m. for work on two bills.

H.R. 1229, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, would require the Department of the Interior to act on Gulf drilling permit applications. House Republicans made 11 Democratic amendments in order, and they will be considered today before a final vote on the bill, also today.

The path forward for the confirmation of Deputy Attorney General James Cole was blocked in the Senate Monday on a 50-40 procedural vote.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) held the cloture vote in the hopes he could garner the support needed to overcome a filibuster threat from several Republican senators who oppose Cole's confirmation on the grounds that he might be soft on terrorism. 

Senate Republicans spent much of Monday afternoon airing a list of grievances they hold against President Obama's nominee for deputy attorney general, James Cole.

The Senate planned to hold a procedural vote on Cole's nomination later Monday.

Republican complaints center around Cole's work as a lawyer when he took up the defense of unpopular clients, especially Saudi Arabia's minister of interior, Prince Naif, who was being sued by 9/11 victims for his government's alleged role in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled Monday that the Senate would soon turn to a controversial piece of legislation to do away with billions of dollars in tax breaks for large oil producers and increase breaks for clean-energy producers.

As Reid welcomed Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to the Senate Monday afternoon. he noted the upper chamber would soon have opportunities to "make tough choices" and referred to the upcoming energy legislation.

Republican Dean Heller was sworn in as the junior senator for Nevada Monday afternoon.

Vice President Joe Biden, who serves as president of the Senate, officiated.

Heller is replacing former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who resigned last week in part because of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation over claims he violated ethics rules in the aftermath of an affair with Cynthia Hampton, the wife of former top aide Doug Hampton, whom he allegedly helped to obtain a lucrative lobbying job.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday accused Democrats of trying to use the same failed plans that President Carter used in the 1970s to address the energy crisis, and said they should focus on increased domestic energy production to lower gas prices rather than taxing energy companies.

"Just like Carter before them, today's Democrats are using the crisis of the moment as an excuse to push their own vision of the future with a windfall profits tax on energy companies," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Rep. Aaron Schock, the youngest member of Congress, shows off his six-pack on the cover of Men's Health.

House Republicans last week introduced a bill that would extend expiring Patriot Act surveillance authorities for six years, until the end of 2017.

The bill would allow intelligence agencies to continue conducting three types of activities: roving surveillance, the collection of business documents and other tangible materials, and surveillance of "lone wolf" operators, who are not acting against the U.S. as part of an established terrorist group.