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Senate Adjourns, GOP To Take Over In January

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The 113th Congress has officially come to a close. The Senate adjourned late last night after passing a bill to extend tax breaks and confirming a slew of nominations. NPR's Ailsa Chang reports.

AILSA CHANG, BYLINE: The last night of the 113th Congress was exceedingly anti-climactic given the drama of the spending bill fight the week before.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SENATOR HARRY REID: Senate will be in order.

CHANG: The Senate spent its last hours approving a bill that resuscitates tax breaks that had expired at the end of last year. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saw to it that 12 more federal judges were confirmed.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REID: This will be the last vote of this Congress.

CHANG: But the Senate never got around to extending a federal terrorism insurance program that expires this month. The new Republican-controlled House and Senate will have to decide whether to revisit that legislation when lawmakers return on January 6. Ailsa Chang, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.