Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Big day ahead on Capitol Hill.

The House will vote on the Obama/McConnell tax deal. Unclear what's going to happen. Watch to see what amendments are brought to the floor. The White House and Senate Republicans want the Senate bill to pass in the House with no changes. We'll see if that happens.

That was quite a win in the House on the standalone DADT bill. Our margin of victory increased by 35 votes since the earlier DADT vote in May. Now, let's see if we can pick up two or three votes in the Senate. Time is running out. Majority Leader Reid has to get the DADT bill to the floor -- and the GOPers can't play games. Yesterday, during the House debate, there was a lot of squawking from Republicans over the process. And, many cited the recent comments of General Amos. Expect that same strategy in the Senate. Consensus is that Rep. Gohmert (R-TX) was the leading homophobe during yesterday's debate. I thought Rep. Duncan "YMCA" Hunter was particularly obsessed with all things gays.

The Senate is going to begin debate on the START Treaty today. Then, the Senate will move to consideration of the Omnibus bill, which includes the money to run the government (and a lot of GOP earmarks.) There is time to consider the DADT bill. Don't believe anyone who says there isn't.

The President will speak at the White House Tribal Nations Conference this morning. Later today, he'll make remarks on the new report of the Afghanistan war.

We're under a Winter Weather Advisory today here in DC, expecting 1 -3 inches of snow.