But after President Barack Obama warned Congress over the weekend not to turn the terrible event into “political theater,” the panel announced on Monday that its briefing had been postponed.

{mosads}The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is, however, still planning to hold its open hearing on Thursday.

Following Obama’s remarks, Senate panel Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) issued a rare Saturday press release stating that the committee looks forward to working with the administration to ascertain the “full story behind the murderous attack.”

“To carry out the investigation,” Lieberman and Collins said, “Congress will require the prompt and full cooperation of the executive branch — cooperation that must start as soon as possible.”

They added, “We totally agree with the president that this inquiry must not turn into ‘political theater’ and it will not.”

Lieberman and Collins, who both endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president in 2008, were clearly not pleased with the president’s statements.

There is evident tension between the executive and legislative branches on the Fort Hood tragedy.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), the senior Republican on the Intelligence Committee, told Fox News recently that administration officials delayed briefing members of Congress about the alleged gunman, which raised “red flags” that the White House was hiding something.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has suggested there was a financial relationship between the suspected shooter, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, and Pakistan.

“There appears to have been a Pakistan connection,” McCaul said, citing communications and wire transfers. “It … demonstrates why it’s important for Congress to exercise its oversight authority.”

There is much on the Capitol Hill agenda this week before the Thanksgiving recess.

The Senate will tackle healthcare reform, while the House will vote on a Medicare physician payment fix.

The House Financial Services panel and Senate Banking Committee will continue their work on financial regulatory reform. Other panels will tackle oversight of the Justice Department, sick leave policies for the swine flu, cancer research and the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger.

Player of the week: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)

Senate Democratic leaders are under a tremendous amount of political pressure.

In the wake of the House’s narrow passages of its healthcare reform bill, the spotlight is now on the upper chamber.

With Thanksgiving just nine days away, Senate Democrats want to start debate on healthcare reform before the holiday. In order to accomplish that, they will need to win on a motion known as “proceed to debate.”

Sixty votes are necessary and the person who needs to round them up is Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). This first test of unity for Democrats is not nearly as daunting as a later cloture vote on healthcare reform.

{mosads}After all, centrist Democrats may not be fond of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) new public option bill, but it is politically difficult to be a member of the majority party and vote not to start debating the measure.

Reid has, in essence, told his colleagues: If you don’t like my bill, amend it on the floor.

In order to do that, they must vote for the motion to proceed.

Still, this is no easy task for Durbin, one of the president’s closest advisers in Congress.

Sixty members caucus with the Democrats in the Senate, but Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) is ailing and has missed 10 of 12 votes this month. Durbin may need to secure at least one Republican vote.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is not pleased with Reid’s decision not to adopt major facets of the Finance Committee bill for which she voted.

“It’s not clear [Reid] has the votes for the motion to proceed,” Snowe recently said.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a critic of the public option, has indicated he will vote for the motion to proceed. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) initially indicated he wanted to wait until Reid released his bill, then vowed to vote with his leaders on the motion.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another skeptic of the public option, has not committed to voting with leaders on the motion.

Durbin knows the final vote count will be close to 60, and he probably can’t afford any defections.