The Senate axed a planned procedural vote on the nomination of José Javier Rodríguez, a former member of the Florida state Senate, for a senior Labor Department position.

It’s not the first time Rodríguez has seen trouble. His nomination previously failed to clear a procedural vote in late November by a 44-51 vote on the floor. All Republicans voted against him, in addition to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.). There were also several Democratic absences.

A spokesperson for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Twelve senators missed the first vote of the week on Monday evening.

Sen. Bob Menendez addressed the multiple indictments against him in a Tuesday floor speech, claiming the government has conspired against him to poison public opinion and a potential jury pool.

Menendez (D-N.J.) has maintained his innocence in all of the indictments against him, the latest of which alleges he acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Qatar. While the majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus has called on Menendez to step down, he has refused and instead left the door open to a reelection bid.

“Why did the government not proceed with all of these accusations from the beginning? The answer is clear to me,” Menendez said. “By filing three indictments — one in late September, a second one a few weeks later in mid-October and a third one last week in early January — it allows the government to keep the sensational story in the press and seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion.”

Menendez also forecasted his case will go to trial, saying there is “no evidence of the giving or receiving of cash or gold bars” and that there will “be at trial a full explanation of what is the truth about those issues.”

The New Jersey Democrat claimed proving his innocence is a matter of precedent-setting in the Senate, noting the allegations against him have “never ever been levied against a sitting members of Congress — never — and for good reason.”

“It opens a dangerous door for the Justice Department to take the normal engagement of members of Congress with a foreign government and to transform those engagements into a charge of being a foreign agent,” Menendez said.

While Menendez has been politically shirked by many of his colleagues, he has continued to weigh in on certain policy subjects, including the latest border negotiations. He has not giving any timing for when he will decide whether or not to run for reelection. Multiple primary challengers have already come out against him, including Rep. Andy Kim and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy.

“I’m innocent and I intend to prove my innocence,” Menendez said.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune said Congress may need a continuing resolution into March to keep the government open as lawmakers negotiate longer-term spending legislation.

Thune, the chamber’s number two Republican, called it “unrealistic” to think lawmakers could complete their work by Jan. 19 on the first series of four government funding measures or the Feb. 2 deadline for the rest.

“We ought to allow some time to do some work on the other bills,” Thune told reporters. “The idea that we’re going to get those [initial bills] done in next week or even for that matter by Feb. 2 — which is the second tranche of the second eight bills — I think it’s unrealistic.”

The South Dakota Republican urged his colleagues in the House not to embrace calls to shut down the government.

“We’ve never seen any political or policy advantage or gain come out of a government shutdown, so I’m hoping that we can do everything to avoid that,” he said.

Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.), the brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, announced Tuesday he would not seek a fourth term in office.

“As a former Marine Officer, I approached the job with purpose,” he said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “After three terms, I’ve made the decision to not file for reelection.”

Pence’s announcement is the latest in a series of recent House retirements. His southeast Indiana district is heavily Republican and will likely stay in GOP hands.

On the first day of 2024 with both chambers in session, leaders will convene meetings where they’ll hear feedback from rank-and-file members about ongoing talks to fund the government and change border policy.

Government funding: The House is back in Washington for the first time in nearly a month Tuesday night. Expect Speaker Mike Johnson to get an earful from conservatives frustrated with the $1.7 trillion funding accord he struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the weekend. “I think there’s going to be some real conversation this week about what we need to do going forward,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on CNN Monday night, adding trying to oust the speaker is “not the road I prefer.”

Border security: Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican negotiator on border security, indicated Monday evening a deal was unlikely this week as thorny details continue to bedevil talks. Look for Democrats to get the latest from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) at their weekly conference lunch on Tuesday, while Republicans have called their own meeting on the negotiations on Wednesday.

One more thing: Congressional leaders have largely avoided comment on the hospitalization of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — and lack of notification for days to the White House, press and lawmakers. We’d expect both Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to get a question about Austin at their weekly press conferences.

There’s no doubt Speaker Mike Johnson has a rough road ahead in 2024. He’s got two shutdown deadlines, fraught border negotiations and building pressure to impeach President Joe Biden.

In the midst of all that, he’s got an incredibly thin majority and he has to keep his right flank happy — never an easy task in split government. He’s been speaker for about two and a half months, and in that time we’ve learned a few things about him that will affect the legislative pileup:

1. He doesn’t have a McCarthy-style inner circle.

Unlike his predecessor, Johnson isn’t surrounded by his closest friends acting as informal advisers. That has pros and cons: Those members helped Kevin McCarthy navigate the historically thin majority, but it further fueled distrust within GOP leadership.

Johnson leans on members of House leadership far more, a welcome change for some Republicans who appreciate the top-down communication style. He does have some allies and mentors that he trusts for advice at various times, including Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), retiring Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.), and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) as well as Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), according to a Republican close to Johnson.

At this point, Johnson doesn’t appear to have the deep support McCarthy had that allowed him to persevere through 15 ballots. While McCarthy’s strategy obviously had its problems, Johnson will need some sort of loyal backing if he wants to successfully navigate tricky political terrain.

His press strategy critically differs from McCarthy, too. As a rank-and-file member, Johnson was extremely accessible to reporters. As speaker, he’s been far more reserved — avoiding hallway questions and finding roundabout ways to get onto the House floor to avoid reporters. It’s fueled a perception that Johnson is weary of answering questions, whereas McCarthy often dealt with journalists head on. However, Johnson has rejoined the weekly leadership pressers that McCarthy opted to skip.

2. He can’t keep punting.

Some Republicans have criticized Johnson over his willingness to punt on polarizing issues rather than call a tough play. And they don’t have a lot of patience left.

That approach was most on display during the spy powers fight last month, when Johnson tried to have members duke it out on the floor to decide which FISA bill would move forward rather than make the decision himself. That backfired: He was forced to withdraw the legislation and both conservatives and centrists complained that it was his job to pick which bill was better.

But conservatives weren’t happy with the results of Johnson wading into the toplines spending deal either. Congressional leaders announced Sunday they had an agreement on overall funding levels — which are effectively the same numbers included in the debt ceiling deal former Speaker Kevin McCarthy had negotiated — prompting swift backlash from the right flank.

That highlights another problem conservatives have with Johnson (and most speakers, at one point or another): They feel he’s too willing to make deals with Democrats. It didn’t help Johnson that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was doing a victory lap earlier today, bragging that not a “nickel” was cut.

All that means Johnson is a little boxed in. Conservatives will criticize any deal he reaches with Democrats, something he has to do in split government. But his conference broadly argues he can no longer try to lead from behind. Republicans want him to demonstrate — through spending, the border and impeachment — that he can pick a side when he has to, and stick to it.

3.  He’s approaching politically volatile issues, like the border, very carefully.

While Johnson has repeatedly demanded more border security and made it a central issue for the party for the November election, he’s shown that he won’t stick his neck out on it as far as some lawmakers want — at least not yet.

He’ll call for conservative border priorities, but he’s purposely stopped short of threatening a shutdown over it, the type of hardball tactics that some conservatives are demanding. At the same time, Johnson hasn’t taken part in the bipartisan Senate negotiations, despite explicit calls from the Biden administration for him to do so. So far, it seems like he’s waiting to weigh in further until those negotiators announce a deal.

That’s far from certain, which may be a part of Johnson’s calculus. But if they do, the speaker may face pointed questions from his conference if he doesn’t push hard enough for their conservative H.R. 2 bill, which is considered a non-starter in the Senate.

Congressional appropriators are sprinting to turn two big funding totals into 12, after party leaders secured a deal on a government funding framework over the weekend.

For weeks, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s staff have haggled over budget totals for the military and domestic programs — only to wind up with the same funding limits set by last summer’s bipartisan debt agreement.

Now leading appropriators, largely sidelined in past weeks, are back in the mix. Their task is negotiating how to split up those overall budget totals across a dozen spending bills for the fiscal year that’s already in full swing. Lawmakers are exceedingly low on time to figure out those numbers and resolve their vast policy differences across the slate of fiscal 2024 spending measures before part of the government runs out of cash on Jan. 19.

At the same time, Senate negotiators are racing to finalize a border security deal that would also deliver emergency aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, further complicating the timeline.

As a result, there’s a growing sense inside the Capitol that another funding patch will be needed to buy more time for a broader government funding bargain — even though Johnson has vowed no more short-term funding extensions.

“I hate to start talking short-term this early in the process,” Senate Majority Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of another extension. “We know from history, it’s possible.”

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) agreed that a spending patch is a possibility, “between the House and the Senate and how much time we have to work with and few other things we have to get done along the way.”

Federal funding for the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Veterans Affairs and more expires on Jan. 19. Funding for the rest of the government, including the biggest domestic programs and the Pentagon, runs out on Feb. 2.

On the floor earlier Monday afternoon, Schumer said the deal clinched over the weekend on a funding framework is “a huge step toward avoiding a government shutdown,” but he warned that “producing 12 appropriations bills will not be easy.”

Such a feat will require agreement from the top four appropriators in Congress and “a lot more compromise between the parties,” he said. Schumer vowed Democrats will not agree to any controversial GOP policy add-ons.

To meet the first government shutdown deadline on Jan. 19, it’s likely the first tranche of four bills needs to be negotiated and written by the end of this week. That’s because it typically takes Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeeper four to five days to analyze the text. And unless leaders buck the rules, lawmakers are supposed to get 72 hours to peruse the bill text before voting.

Burgess Everett and Ursula Perano contributed to this report.

Senate negotiations on a border and immigration deal are getting bogged down over details, making it highly unlikely there’s an agreement this week.

Despite optimistic statements in recent days from all three Senate negotiators, a finalized agreement is bedeviling Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Though none of them will talk policy specifics, GOP senators say efforts to restrict the president’s parole authority are at an impasse, as Democrats push back on the issue.

“There’s too many unanswered issues that are still there. There’s too many unresolved parts. But I would say as recently as yesterday, I was thinking I think we’re close. But in all of our meetings last night and today, we’re not,” Lankford told reporters after briefing GOP leaders. “I’m doubtful about later on this week … I think it’s more likely the next.”

Murphy said senators and the Biden administration are “trying to get it as soon as possible but there frustratingly remain some open issues.” And as Republicans condition their votes for more Ukraine aid on new border and immigration restrictions, the rest of the supplemental spending bill may have to wait too.

The three senators have spent months urgently trying to finalize a bipartisan agreement that would unlock that money and make new border and immigration restrictions to deal with a surge of migrants into the United States. But Congress has a history of failures on addressing immigration, and those challenges are now falling to three senators under a compressed timeline with huge stakes for U.S. foreign policy.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is close to the negotiators, said that parole authority is the biggest unresolved issue in the talks. Lankford said that “every administration needs the ability to have humanitarian parole, that’s why that’s why it exists. But you have to be able to stop the abuse.”

Asked about why parole is such a challenging issue, Murphy bluntly said that “many of us warned that it’s not a good idea to condition the salvation of Ukraine and Europe on our ability to craft a comprehensive immigration reform. Period.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) both said they have reservations about restricting presidential parole, though they are open to the discussion. Schatz quipped that if the “bill is done right, everyone is going to hate it.”

Progressives and conservatives alike are expected to oppose any agreement on immigration and border security, with the left arguing it goes too far and the right arguing it doesn’t go far enough.

Negotiators and Senate leaders touted progress over the holiday break. It’s unclear, however, when a bill would move through the Senate even if there is a deal — and still more questions remain about whether the House GOP majority would even take it up.

The laborious negotiations could soon find themselves overrun by the imperative to stop a government shutdown, with a Jan. 19 date bearing down on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about the issues confronting Congress on Monday afternoon.

Still, there’s a flurry of activity around the unresolved discussions this week. Democrats are hoping to get a briefing from Murphy on Tuesday, while Senate Republicans are set for a GOP conference meeting about the border and immigration on Wednesday.

A number of senators say they’re still largely in the dark about what exactly has been negotiated. Durbin said Monday he hadn’t gotten any substantive updates recently, noting that he spoke to Schumer about it a few days ago but that the majority leader “didn’t have much to tell me.” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said while there haven’t been many incremental updates, there’s an “appreciation for the fact that you can’t start having piecemeal discussions about this, because it is so delicate.”

Senate Republican leadership is bracing for a slog, too. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that negotiators are getting talks “reduced to text,” but that “getting something ready for action on the floor is going to take a while.”