5:51 p.m. The Senate adjourned and will reconvene at noon on Thursday, Dec. 31. They will resume consideration of the veto message on H.R. 6395, NDAA. Senator McConnell filed cloture on the veto message. Note: cloture ripens one hour after the Senate convenes on Friday.
5:47 p.m. The motion to proceed to the veto message on H.R. 6395, NDAA was agreed to by a vote of 80-12. Voting no: Senators Braun, Cruz, Hawley, Kennedy, Lee, Markey, Merkley, Paul, Sanders, Van Hollen, Warren, and Wyden. Not voting: Blackburn, Cotton, Gardner, Graham, Jones, Loeffler, Perdue, and Rubio.
5:17 p.m. A quorum was present.
5:00 p.m. The Senate began a live quorum.
4:41 p.m. Senator Reed spoke about the NDAA.
4:36 p.m. Senator Inhofe spoke about the NDAA.
4:15 p.m. Senator Brown spoke about the $2000 payment.
3:50 p.m. Senator Cornyn and Senator Sander spoke about corporate liability.
3:45 p.m. Senator Durbin spoke about the veto override and also about the $2000 payment.
3:43 p.m. Senator Cornyn spoke against the $2000 payment.
3:36 p.m. Senator Markey spoke about Covid and also about the $2000 payment.
3:30 p.m. Senator Toomey spoke about why he is against the $2000 payment.
3:21 p.m. Senator Sanders spoke about the $2000 payment.
3:11 p.m. Senator Schumer spoke about Senator Hawley’s intention to contest the certification of electoral college votes, the override of the veto of the NDAA, and the $2000 payment.
3:02 p.m. Senator McConnell spoke about Senator Sanders, the covid relief bill and about the NDAA.
The Senate will convene at 3:00 p.m. Following Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business.
At 5:00pm, there will be a live quorum call. Once a quorum is established, we expect Majority Leader McConnell to ask to lay before the Senate the message on the NDAA veto, at which time there would be a vote on laying the message before the Senate. This is a majority vote threshold.
We expect Majority Leader McConnell to file cloture on the veto message during Wednesday’s session. If no agreement can be reached, the cloture vote would occur 1 hour after the Senate convenes on Friday.