The House convenes at 10 a.m. for morning speeches, then at noon is looking to complete work on H.R. 1216. That bill would scale back funding for graduate-level medical education, and also remove the automatic nature of that funding.

One controversial amendment will be voted on before the final vote on H.R. 1216. The amendment, from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), would ensure that the graduate education funding program is not used to train medical residents on abortion procedures.

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday night agreed to make 152 amendments in order for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), setting up a marathon process in the House for the rest of the week.

Rules allowed for 10 minutes of debate for each amendment, so if none are withdrawn, the House is in for 1,520 minutes of debate — more than 25 hours.

This is on top of other work the House has planned for the week, including passage of a healthcare bill (H.R. 1216), and possible passage of a bill extending provisions in the Patriot Act.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) on Tuesday night defended language in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that affirms the U.S. is in armed conflict with al Qaeda and other terrorists, and allows officials to detain belligerents.

Democrats and some Republicans will seek to remove or alter that language when debate on amendments takes place in earnest on Wednesday. Several amendments to Section 1034 of the bill, H.R. 1540, have been introduced to replace or change the language.

Sen. Paul's filibuster of the Patriot Act renewal, though circumvented, could still cause the law's powers to lapse this week.

The House late Tuesday was thrown off its schedule and is now expected to complete work on a healthcare bill Wednesday.

The bill, H.R. 1216, would scale back federal funding for graduate medical student education. One amendment to the bill, from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), would ensure remaining funds are not used for abortion training.

House Democrats on Tuesday evening moved to block progress on a healthcare bill in response to a Republican attempt to limit debate on amendments, after debate on a single amendment lasted nearly two hours.

The House was debating an amendment from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) that would prevent federal funding for medical training related to abortion. Debate began on the abortion amendment, but over the afternoon led to a broader debate, led by several Democrats, over the GOP's plan to move Medicare to a voucher system.

House members on Tuesday night are expected to hold a controversial vote on language that would prevent federal funds for medical resident training from being used to train residents on abortion procedures. (Update: later events postponed the vote until Wednesday.)

The language in question comes from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who is seeking to amend a bill that would scale back the federal funding and make it subject to annual appropriations. The program, established in last year's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was automatically funded by Democrats last year.

Tuesday's House debate on a bill that would eliminate automatic funding for a healthcare program quickly escalated past the bill's $220 million in savings over the next decade, and prompted both parties to revisit last year's healthcare debate and passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said the bill is a small step toward letting Congress reclaim its jurisdiction over federal spending. The program in question is automatically funded in PPACA — Republicans are trying to make it a discretionary program that has to be authorized every year.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gently mocked Senate Democrats on Tuesday for so far failing to produce a fiscal year 2012 spending plan. 

 “They [Democrats] say they prefer the ideas the President outlined in a speech he gave last month,” McConnell said.  

“Well, unfortunately we can't vote on a speech ... but if that's what it takes to get Democrats engaged in this debate, maybe we should revisit the rules so we can actually vote on a speech,” said McConnell.

McConnell was referring to a address Obama made last month in which he laid out his vision for reducing the budget deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years.