Harry's Sick,Senate and Obama to Leave Town

++Harry Reid was hospitalized this morning and will stay in the hospital and miss today's votes.

++Janet Yellin won't be confirmed until January.

++The Senate will go home with no Farm Bill, extended unemployment benefits and judicial nominations may or may not have to be re-submitted.

++Democratic chairpersons revolted against the Nuclear Free Iran Act and President Obama said he would veto. But Rachel Maddow quite correctly pointed out that with the number of Democratic cosponsors,if the stand alone bill came to the floor it might have passed with a veto proof majority and paved the way to war with Iran.

++Unsurprisingly,the Senate did passed by a whopping vote of 84-15 a Defense bill of $552.1 billion and $80.7 billion for the War in Afghanistan and other overseas operations. 

++The Bill does allow President Obama to send Gitmo prisoners to third countries but still doesn't allow for the remaining prisoners to be tried in American courts.

++The Bill actually does allow the U.S. to pay for the destruction of the chemical weapons in Syria.

++Jack Lew says the debt ceiling will have to be raised sometime in February or early March. Watch this space.

++The GDP's Third Quarter was revised upward to 4.1% from 3.6%, the second best quarter since the 2007 Recession.

++Even Huffington Post had to admit that the state exchanges for ACA are running at top speed and enrollments are surging in states that are part of the Union.

++New Mexico's Supreme Court OK'd same-sex marriage. Weirdly,LGBT activists are predicting Indiana will be next.

++President Obama is supposed to address the press before he leaves for his Christmas Holidays in Hawaii.