This Week in the Senate: 12/16/2019

This week, the Senate is holding votes on one bill.

Floor Action:¹
Monday:

• The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the conference report for S. 1790, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.

Tuesday:

• The Senate will vote to adopt the conference report.

Wednesday:

• The Senate will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Ohio 4th District Court of Appeals Judge Matthew McFarland to serve as a judge of the Southern District of Ohio. McFarland's nomination is opposed by Democrats due to his affiliation with a pro-life group while running for judicial office. If confirmed, he would fill a judicial emergency from 2017. Then, there will be a confirmation vote on his nomination and the Senate will proceed to a series of cloture votes on 12 remaining district court nominees, beginning with the nomination of Broward County Circuit Court Judge Raag Singhal to serve as a judge of the Southern District of Florida. Then, the Senate will vote to invoke cloture on the nominations of Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Marston to serve as a judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Traynor Law Firm shareholder Daniel Traynor to serve as a judge of the District of North Dakota, McAfee & Taft shareholder Jodi Dishman to serve as a judge of the Western District of Oklahoma, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gallagher to serve as a judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Magistrate Judge Bernard Jones to serve as a judge of the Western District of Oklahoma, Bankruptcy Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil to serve as a judge of the Southern District of New York, New Mexico Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Kea Riggs to serve as a judge of the District of New Mexico, Allegheny County Superior Court Judge Robert Colville to serve as a judge of the Western District of Pennsylvania, Cleary Gottlieb partner Lewis Liman to serve as a judge of the Southern District of New York, Magistrate Judge Gary Brown to serve as a judge of the Eastern District of New York, and Magistrate Judge Stephanie Davis to serve as a judge of the Eastern District of Michigan. Traynor's nomination faces opposition from Democrats due to his activity on Twitter. Colville and Liman, on the other hand, are opposed by Republicans. Republicans have questioned Colville's views on abortion and Liman's skepticism of originalism and support of a living Constitution. If confirmed, Singhal, Traynor, Vyskocil, Riggs, Liman, and Brown would fill judicial emergencies from 2016, 2019, 2017, 2018, 2015, and 2015, respectively, and Marston, Dishman, Gallagher, Jones, Colville, and Davis would fill vacancies from 2017, 2018, 2018, 2019, 2018, and 2016, respectively.

Thursday:

• The Senate will vote on the two omnibus appropriations bills (H.R. 1158 and H.R. 1865), and will vote to confirm Singhal, Marston, Traynor, Dishman, Gallagher, Jones, Vyskocil, Riggs, Colville, Liman, Brown, and Davis to the district court seats. It will also vote on confirming Stephen Biegun to serve as Deputy Secretary of State.

Notes:

¹The floor schedule is an approximate guide to when votes may occur. It may not necessarily be completely accurate due to things changing in the Senate during the week.

Update # 1 (12/23/2019): Updated floor agenda.