Two prosecutors in Utah say a corruption investigation looking at state politicians and online gambling interests has yielded evidence that could implicate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), ABC News reports.

“The two district attorneys – one Democrat and one Republican – already working with a team of FBI agents, are urging federal prosecutors to pick up the case and investigate – something the Department of Justice has thus far declined to do. The Utah officials say the evidence relates to suspect campaign contributions and other financial transactions.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) “torched the Central Intelligence Agency in a floor speech Tuesday morning, charging the agency with spying on her committee’s computers in a possibly illegal search that has been referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution,” Roll Call reports.

During her speech, Feinstein “said she learned in January that the Central Intelligence Agency improperly searched committee computer files, confirming several media reports. She said the incident has been referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution. But Feinstein was also riled by a separate referral by the CIA to the Department of Justice suggesting that the committee staff had improperly received classified information.”

Politico: “Republicans think Harry Reid is running the Senate like a dictator: His no-compromise style is almost like Vladimir Putin’s, and his inflammatory rhetoric is reminiscent of the Joe McCarthy era. But Reid doesn’t seem to care.”

“In an interview this week in his Senate office, a feisty Reid pushed back aggressively against Republican complaints over his leadership, pinning the blame entirely on the GOP for the gridlock and polarization that define the historically unproductive 113th Congress.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that if he wins re-election and his party gains control of the U.S. Senate, he would run the legislative body differently than Democrats, the New York Times reports.

Said McConnnell: “We are going to treat senators with respect, we are going to work harder and accomplish more. The Senate can be returned to the place of great debates, contentious debates, but where you can still get outcomes on things where you have at least 60 senators.”

“While he would not commit to reversing the limit Democrats put on filibustering White House nominees last November, he said the idea would be on the table if Republicans took charge.”

Former Sen. Larry Pressler has a new ad in his independent U.S. Senate bid that shows him on grainy video not taking a bribe in the ABSCAM probe.

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“When Democrats changed Senate rules last year to limit the filibuster against White House nominees, it raised hopes among some liberals that President Obama would use his new power to reshape the federal judiciary. Now, just over three months later, some Democrats and progressive groups are instead trying to stop two of the president’s latest nominees to the federal bench on the grounds that they are too conservative,” the New York Times reports.

“The conflict is the latest twist in a struggle over confirmations. The filibuster change, while heralded, had only a limited impact on the ability of Democrats to push through federal judges to lifetime appointments.”

“Senators still hold virtual veto power over judicial nominations associated with their states under a custom of the Senate Judiciary Committee that requires senators to return a ‘blue slip‘ acquiescing in a nomination before it can move forward.”

Roll Call: “In a post-nuclear Senate, holds on nominees aren’t what they used to be. And Republicans’ newfound powerlessness to stop President Barack Obama’s picks is starting to get to the GOP.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “delayed action on legislation raising the minimum wage, the centerpiece of the Democrats’ 2014 agenda,” The Hill reports.

“The Nevada Democrat made the surprising move amid escalating Democratic resistance in the wake of a Congressional Budget Office report released last week estimating that hiking the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour could cost the equivalent of 500,000 jobs by late 2016.”

“Reid has not yet unified his caucus on the issue, which is a constant in the Democrats’ election-year playbook. Of the 55 senators who caucus with the Democrats, only 32 have signed on as official co-sponsors of Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) bill.”

A copy of Green Eggs and Ham signed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was auctioned for $1000, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

Cruz read from the book in September while on the U.S. Senate floor during a 21-hour speech.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) said he told Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-MT) “to butt out when Reid tried to offer his opinion on the governor’s future appointment of a new U.S. senator to replace Sen. Max Baucus,” the Helena Independent Record reports.

Said Bullock: “He wanted to weigh in on who I should choose and this was before it was even public. And I said it was none of your damn business.”

“Six Senate Republicans switched from ‘nay’ to ‘aye’ on the critical vote allowing the nation’s debt limit to be extended, a copy of the official Senate vote tally sheet provided to Roll Call suggests.

“The tally sheet is the only record of which senators may have switched their votes because the Senate clerk — in a break with tradition — didn’t name names during the nearly hourlong vote. Capitol Hill reporters are protesting that change, still within the rules, as lacking transparency.”

“A growing group of Ted Cruz’s Republican Senate colleagues are infuriated with his tactics,” Bloomberg reports.

“So frustrated was Arizona Senator John McCain with the latest, forcing fellow Republicans to take a politically risky vote on lifting the debt ceiling, that yesterday he tweeted a Wall Street Journal editorial accusing the Texas lawmaker of instigating ‘needless drama that helps to explain why Republicans remain a minority.'”

“Yet there’s not much McCain, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or other Republicans can do to change Cruz’s behavior… In decades past, leaders could rein in such behavior by threatening to take away coveted committee assignments, withdrawing financial support, or shunning lawmakers. None of those tactics are effective in a political era in which campaign cash flows freely from outside the party machinery and cable outlets offer many ways to grab attention and influence.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) wouldn’t tell Fusion if he’s ever smoked marijuana.

Said Rubio: “I’ll tell you why I never answer that question. If I tell you that I haven’t, you won’t believe me. And if I tell you that I did, then kids will look up to me and say, ‘well, I can smoke marijuana because look how he made it.'”

“Liberal groups are agitating for another round of filibuster reform after Senate Majority Harry Reid’s (D-NV) controversial triggering of the nuclear option last year has done little to alleviate Senate gridlock,” The Hill reports.

“A coalition of labor and liberal groups have pressed Reid to make additional changes to the Senate rules this year, something that senior Democratic aides say is very possible.”

With Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) confirmed as the next ambassador to China, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is beginning to talk about his plans for his new gavel, Roll Call reports.

“The Finance Committee has no shortage of work ahead, including the annual ritual of addressing lapsed tax code provisions that are usually bundled into what’s known as ‘tax extenders’ legislation, as well as trying to find a solution to the recurring problem of reduced payments to providers who treat Medicare payments.”

“It took longer than any of the negotiators or stakeholders would have hoped, but at the end of the day, the farm bill coalition held together,” Roll Call reports.

“The Senate cleared the conference report reauthorizing agriculture and nutrition programs for five years on a 68-32 vote Tuesday.”

“Assuming the entire bill makes it to President Barack Obama’s desk in one piece — and longtime farm bill observers know even that can’t be assured, since the 2008 farm bill showed up at the White House with a chunk missing — the work of Congress is done for this round, and a new farm policy will be in effect for the next five years, providing much-needed certainty for producers.”

Wonk Wire: 3 things wrong with the farm bill.

“After battling with Senate Republicans for much of 2013, prompting tense confrontations and occasional shouting matches, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is starting to achieve what once seemed unthinkable: He’s getting along reasonably well with most of his GOP colleagues,” Politico reports.

“In an olive branch to his colleagues, Cruz privately assured them he wouldn’t raise money for a conservative group attacking GOP senators. And he even allowed the Senate to leave early for its Martin Luther King Jr. Day recess by dropping demands for what would have been a futile attempt to gut Obamacare.”

“The late Capitol Hill staffer Jesse Ryan Loskarn wrote a letter before his death apologizing for the hurt he caused with his arrest on child pornography charges and revealing that he was sexually abused as a 5-year-old,” Roll Call reports.

From Loskarn’s letter: “On December 11, 2013, I was arrested for possession of child pornography. Writing those few words took a long time; seeing them in print is agony. But I owe many, many people an explanation — if that’s even possible — and that’s why I’ve written this letter.”

“The news coverage of my spectacular fall makes it impossible for me to crawl in a hole and disappear. I’ve hurt every single human being I’ve ever known and the details of my shame are preserved on the internet for all time. There is no escape.”