Reid Plans Pro Forma Sessions Throughout Holidays

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Reid Plans Pro Forma Sessions Throughout Holidays
December 12, 2008, 8:50 a.m.
By Erin P. Billings
Roll Call Staff


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will keep his chamber operating in a series of non-voting sessions throughout the holidays, with plans to wait until Jan. 2 to formally adjourn the 110th Congress Sine Die.

Reid has scheduled the first pro-forma session for today, and will reconvene for another non-voting session on Tuesday. Similar sessions are scheduled for Dec. 19, 23, 26 and 30 along with a final on Jan. 2. The final session will mark the end of the Congress, just a few days before the 111th Congress convenes on Jan. 6.

The pro-forma sessions provide Reid with an opportunity call the chamber back into business if necessary. The Majority Leader may want to leave the door open to call Senators back to town to take another crack at aiding the ailing automotive industry. Marathon negotiations on a loan package collapsed in the Senate late Thursday.

Reid has rarely shut down the Senate over the past two years, keeping it operating in non-voting sessions to prevent the Bush administration from installing any controversial executive branch appointments while Senators are out of town. That issue is largely moot now, however, since Bush’s second term expires early next year.

scorched earth behind him--as one of his aides said, "he's in power until 11:59 am on jan 20."

and we know just some of the things he is doing--how much more is going to come to light once he is finally gone--if he really goes?