Wednesday: Tax extenders, nominations

The House will consider a one-year extension of more than 50 tax credits that expired at the end of 2013. It is the alternative to a longer-term deal that was being negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) until the White House torpedoed it.

In addition, the House will debate a bill, H.R. 647, that would create tax-free savings accounts for people with disabilities to help pay for associated expenses.

{mosads}The Senate starts at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and will continue work on numerous executive and judicial nominations.

At 10 a.m. the Senate will vote on confirmation of Charlotte Burrows to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and P. David Lopez to be general counsel of EEOC.

Around 5:30 p.m., the Senate will also vote on the nominations of David Hale to be a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky, Mark Kearney to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Gerald Pappert to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

With Republicans taking control of the upper chamber next year, Democrats are more motivated than ever to clear as many of Obama’s executive and judicial nominations as possible before adjourning for the year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has filed cloture on at least two more nominations to the Department of Energy that the chamber will work through this week.