'Christmas is one week from Wednesday,' Reid said. 'We have a lot to do.' | REUTERS Reid fills up Senate schedule

The Senate may be hurtling toward another acrimonious week of all-night votes on President Barack Obama’s nominees.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) laid out an ambitious schedule Monday of high-profile nominations that the chamber must tackle this week in addition to passing the bipartisan budget agreement and a defense authorization. Reid said he’s willing to hold the Senate in session until Christmas Eve to confirm nominees like Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve and Alejandro Mayorkas to be the No. 2 at the Department of Homeland Security.


All of Obama’s nominees hit the reset button when a new session of the Senate convenes in January, requiring the president to resubmit all of his nominees. That deadline is motivating Democrats to push ahead on as many of the president’s picks as possible.

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“Christmas is one week from Wednesday. We have a lot to do. We could complete all of our work by Thursday, by Friday, by Saturday, by Sunday, by Monday or Tuesday. But finish it we must,” Reid said. “I’ve lined out what we need to do, and it’s up to the [Republican] minority to determine what, if anything, they’re going to stop us from doing.”

With GOP anger still simmering over Senate Democrats’ unilateral elimination of the 60-vote threshold on most of Obama’s nominees, Republicans refused to enter into agreements with Reid last week to hold speedy votes. The result was a Senate that stayed up all night Wednesday and Thursday, processing nominees into the wee hours of the night as Republicans hammered Democrats over the rules change and Obamacare.

The lone bipartisan glimmer of hope was a truce reached last Friday by Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that allowed the Senate to avoid a scheduled 10 p.m. vote on Saturday, rescheduling it instead for Monday.

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Senate Republicans are sensitive to any sort of cooperation that could be interpreted by conservatives as kowtowing to the Democratic majority, particularly after the rules change. The question this week is whether the looming holiday and the attractiveness of a long break away from a Capitol gripped by partisanship will appeal enough to Republicans to allow a faster voting schedule so the chamber can finish its work by Thursday or Friday.

“Last week was difficult for the entire Senate community. When cooperation is lacking as it was last week, completing the business before this body becomes much more difficult,” Reid said. “Although we accomplished a great deal, the process was neither easy nor pleasant. This week the Senate has just as much to achieve as last week. And without cooperation we’ll face another daunting vote schedule.”