Reid sets 2-part Senate lame-duck session that will start on Nov. 15

Under a scheduled laid out by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate
would return on Monday, Nov. 15 for a single week before breaking for the week
of Thanksgiving.

The upper chamber would then return to business on Monday, Nov. 29.
It is not clear how long the Senate would then remain in session.

{mosads}The House has not announced a preliminary schedule for
post-election sessions.

Congress could have to consider appropriations bills after
the election, as well as what to do with expiring Bush-era tax breaks. Reid on
Wednesday said the Senate would take up the tax cuts in September.

Once the Senate adjourns as expected on Thursday evening,
senators will return on Monday, Sept. 13 and will stay in session until Friday,
Oct. 8.

Over that four-week period — the last before the Nov. 2
elections — the Senate is scheduled to take up the tax cuts, energy legislation
and a small business incentives bill.