Congress tries to get to the finish line

Lawmakers say they're finally, really, truly almost there on a COVID / Omnibus deal.

It's déjà vu all over again. A shutdown deadline at midnight. Lawmakers waiting on the final deal for COVID relief. Here's your special Sunday edition of "Regular Order."

LET'S MAKE A DEAL: Five days from Christmas, the Congress is almost there on a final agreement for extra Coronavirus relief along with a giant year-end Omnibus government funding bill. One of the final stumbling blocks wiped away late Saturday night was a last minute effort by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to take away certain emergency lending powers from the Federal Reserve - which have been in law even before the virus outbreak - designed to help small businesses and state and local governments. It's still unclear why Republicans suddenly brought this into the stimulus negotiations after months of talks. But evidently it’s now been fixed, and now we wait for the giant final bill.

• WHEN COULD THE HOUSE AND SENATE VOTE? Normally, the final language of the COVID / Omnibus deal would be unveiled, and the House would wait about 36-48 hours to vote on the final agreement, so lawmakers can read the bill (which will likely be 2,000+ pages). Normally. But this is 2020. So, it's not going to surprise me if House Democrats put the bill up on the floor for a vote without enough time to read it. A few GOP Senators could then keep everyone in town (or in suspense) for a couple of days with delaying tactics. But Christmas is almost here, so the pressure will be on to approve the mammoth bill and get out of town. It's possible another temporary funding plan might be needed to avoid a shutdown tonight at midnight. "Congress must get its work done," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

WHAT ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP? There have been reports that the President in recent days was pushing for much larger direct checks in the COVID-19 relief package, which some lawmakers feared could topple the entire plan. After midnight on Saturday night, the President was tweeting. "Why isn’t Congress giving our people a Stimulus Bill?" Mr. Trump wrote at 12:18 am on Sunday. "GET IT DONE, and give them more money in direct payments." As of now, Congress seems likely to ignore the President, but what if - what if - what if, he wanted to derail the whole thing?

• CONGRESS HITS TRUMP OVER RUSSIA DENIAL. A day after the Secretary of State blamed Russia for a recent cyber attack, President Trump completely undercut that story, saying it could have been China, and not Moscow who was responsible. That ran into a brick wall Saturday on Capitol Hill. "Increasingly clear that Russian intelligence conducted the gravest cyber intrusion in our history," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the GOP chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Democrats were more blunt. "Your own Secretary of State says it was Russia," said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). "Can you please stop lying?" Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) tweeted at the President. "Why does Trump ignore attacks on our country and always, every single time, go to bat for Russia instead of the United States?" said Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA).

LAWMAKERS ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES. While they waited for a deal on Saturday, a parade of lawmakers got their Coronavirus vaccine shot on Capitol Hill. "There is nothing to fear about getting vaccinated," said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). "The vaccine is safe," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). "I didn't feel a thing!" tweeted Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who even provided video evidence of his vaccination. "My trust has always been in science and physicians," said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY). The top two Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have all received their shots.

• ABSENT GOP SENATORS UPEND TRUMP PICKS. For whatever variety of reasons on Saturday, a dozen GOP Senators were not on Capitol Hill for work in the Senate - and that led to surprise setbacks on the Senate floor for two Trump nominees. With only 40 GOP Senators on hand, Democrats were able to defeat cloture votes on two Inspector General nominees. The GOP absentees were: Blunt (MO), Burr (NC), Cruz (TX), Enzi (WY), Ernst (IA), Fischer (NE), Loeffler (GA), Paul (KY), Perdue (GA), Portman (OH), Risch (ID) and Rounds (SD).

THE MUSE OF HISTORY. Eight years ago on this day, December 19, 2012, House Republicans pulled the plug on efforts to pass a GOP plan to address the "fiscal cliff," sending lawmakers home without any deal on the expiring Bush tax cuts. The House and Senate returned after Christmas, leading to the most unusual New Year's Eve on Capitol Hill that I ever witnessed as a reporter.

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM FOR SUNDAY:

House convenes at 12 noon. Last votes at ???

Senate convenes at 1 pm. Last votes at ???

President Trump has no public schedule.

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Email me jamiedupree@substack.com

"Conference reports may be brought up at any time. Any further program will be announced later."