“No family is complete without an embarrassing uncle. We have too many embarrassing uncles in the United States Senate. Lots of embarrassing stuff.”

— Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), quoted by The Hill, in her farewell speech on the Senate floor.

“In its final days in session, the Senate has shaken off some parliamentary and legislative rust to force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell into policy debates that he would have preferred to brush aside,” the Washington Post reports.

“Some of these steps mark a turn in the Senate’s willingness to stand up to President Trump — at least on foreign policy matters — and some are important but symbolic gestures by frustrated senators. Another could deliver Trump a key domestic policy win on bipartisan sentencing restructuring.”

“Regardless of the motives, rank-and-file senators have employed a mix of unique techniques, old-fashioned threats and insider persuasion to spark debates that had been blocked or delayed. It has left McConnell (R-KY) with a seemingly looser hold on power, which could translate into more opportunities next year for Democrats and any GOP allies willing to oppose Trump.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the Senate will vote this month on a sweeping overhaul of the criminal justice system that has proven deeply controversial within the Senate Republican ranks, the Washington Post reports.

McConnell said the decision to put the bill — which eases some mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders while implementing initiatives aimed at lowering recidivism rates — comes “at the request of the president and following improvements to the legislation” secured by several senators.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned that the Senate will be in session between Christmas and New Years to finish their work for the year unless senators agree to fast-track some items on their to-do list, The Hill reports.

Forty-four former U.S. Senators write an open letter to current senators in the Washington Post:

We are on the eve of the conclusion of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation and the House’s commencement of investigations of the president and his administration. The likely convergence of these two events will occur at a time when simmering regional conflicts and global power confrontations continue to threaten our security, economy and geopolitical stability.

It is a time, like other critical junctures in our history, when our nation must engage at every level with strategic precision and the hand of both the president and the Senate.

Washington Post: “One defiant Republican is seeking to protect the special counsel investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, another wants to toughen U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia, and a third is warning that embracing Trump is perilous for the future of the Republican Party.”

“The moves amount to a last gasp from a wing of the GOP that has been unable steer the party away from Trump during the first two years of his presidency and will see its ranks diminished in the next Congress. The shifting dynamic reflects Trump’s dominance in the party and the marginalization of dissenting voices, even after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans in which Democrats won back the House.”

“Senate committees investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election are combing through witness testimony for possible misleading or untruthful statements,” NBC News reports.

“The review of testimony to Senate intelligence and judiciary committees comes as President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge brought by special counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to Congress to cover up efforts during the presidential campaign to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.”

“The Senate Judiciary Committee cancelled a Thursday hearing on judicial nominees as Jeff Flake’s stand for a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller continues to wreak havoc in the lame duck session,” Politico reports.

“The panel was scheduled to advance six Circuit Court nominees, 15 District Court nominees and several bipartisan bills on Thursday to prepare them for possible floor action over the next month. But Flake, who is retiring at the end of this year, is holding firm to his vow to vote against judicial nominees on the floor and in committee unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) schedules a vote on the bipartisan special counsel legislation.”

Flake told CNN he doesn’t get why his Republican Senate colleagues won’t back his bill to protect Mueller.