The votes for cloture exist. It’s just a matter of finding the time on the Senate calendar, where DADT repeal competes with the START treaty and a host of other bills. The wrangling over the omnibus or some other government funding measure will loom large as well.

The omnibus spending bill is rife with interesting backstories and competing agendas. It’s clear to me that Jim DeMint’s pressure to read the full omnibus, which stands at over 1,900 pages, has three parts: 1) to cement his standing with the Tea Party against “pork” and really spending in general; 2) to run out the clock not on the spending bill but the rest of the Senate’s agenda, especially START, the DREAM Act and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; 3) to create another Waterloo for President Obama, and put him in the difficult situation of having to sign a bill with a bunch of earmarks in it.

Jim DeMint decided against forcing a reading of the new START treaty on the floor of the Senate. He’s hilariously trying to spin this as a victory because Harry Reid delayed the opening of the debate one day.

The Senate as expected passed the tax cut deal by a 81-19 vote. The bill moves to the House, and all expectations are it will pass there as well.

I think this could lead to the belief that the bill has become a Christmas tree. Harry Reid’s push to legalize online poker in the bill adds to that as well. And nothing will take down this bill faster than cries of “pork” and “the cornhusker kickback” (in this case, actually having to do with corn).

Jim DeMint (R-SC) metaphorically joins Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the chorus of senators promising to blow up the Obama-McConnell tax deal.

Ethanol subsidies are up for renewal at the end of the year. And some prominent conservatives have pitched letting them expire, to the chagrin of farm-state Senators and establishment Republicans.

TSA chief John Pistole went for the big lie yesterday in his testimony before the Transportation and Commerce Committee. . . .

Liveblogging of the Senate Banking Committee hearing on foreclosure fraud continues. Senator Richard Shelby was actually pretty good, but then Sens. Mike Johanns and Bob Bennett went to some length to try to pretend the banksters weren’t doing what they were doing.

This hearing is the latest example of national policymakers getting involved in the foreclosure fraud issue. The Congressional Oversight Panel warning of the enormous risk from the failures of servicers was the first report of its kind at the federal level to take full measure of the situation, and this is the first Congressional hearing. Senators on the Democratic side like Jeff Merkley and Sherrod Brown are sure to press the bank representatives aggressively on why foreclosure mitigation programs have failed, and why they used false documents to evict people from their homes. The ranking member on the Republican side, Richard Shelby, wants to investigate failures at the major loan servicers.