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The Hill provides background:
After getting off to a late start, the Senate finally began its much-anticipated budget "vote-a-rama," the free-wheeling process by which senators can seek an unlimited number of amendments to the 2014 budget bill. Senators were scheduled to start at 3 p.m., but began the process at 3:45 p.m.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) started the day by urging members to limit amendments to the typical 25 to 35 that are normally seen during these votes. But the pent-up budget frustrations on the part of Republicans, after four years with no Senate budget process, could lead them to push for more.
Consideration of amendments is the penultimate phase of budget work for the Senate. Once all requests are considered, the Senate hopes to pass it either late tonight or possibly in the early hours of Saturday morning.
But before then, amendments could be called up on any number of subjects that have been the subject of debate over the last several months. Amendments have been filed on the legality of drone strikes against Americans on U.S. soil, cutting taxes, ending offshore tax havens, repealing the healthcare law, gun control, immigration and even withholding the pay of White House officials if the budget is late.
