While publicly expressing confidence that Democrats will hold onto a majority in the Senate, party leaders are scrambling to confirm as many of President Barack Obama's nominees as possible before the new Congress convenes on Jan. 6,
according to Talking Points Memo.
"We will definitely move a lot of nominees during the lame duck one way or the other — possibly more if Republicans take the majority," a Democrat Senate leadership aide told the website.
"[Due to] bleak prospects for confirmation under a Republican majority, there will be a strong incentive to get as many confirmed during the lame duck as possible."
Time is of the essence. There are just several weeks to confirm Attorney General Eric Holder's successor as well as some judicial nominations and "a handful of ambassadors," according to Talking Points Memo.
The Senate returns on Nov. 12, eight days after the midterm elections. It's predicted that Democrats will have fewer than the current 55-member majority or may become the minority party.
In addition to confirmations,
Defense One reports that Congress will have only about four weeks to pass important defense legislation, including "a $550 billion defense appropriations bill, with nearly $60 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (or another stop-gap measure to extend the continuing resolution expiring Dec. 11), the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the specific authorization for the Pentagon's program to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels, also expiring Dec. 11 (or it could be folded into the NDAA)."
A senior Democratic aide told Defense One that funding for Ebola, training, and equipping the Syrians and the defense appropriations bill will likely become part of a giant omnibus bill in the lame-duck session that would fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, as would a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq and Syria.
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