“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.”

Former Senate staffer Jesse Ryan Loskarn was found dead in an apparent suicide, Roll Call reports.

“Loskarn, the former chief of staff for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) was residing with his parents after being released into their custody following an arrest on child pornography charges. The deadline to bring an indictment against Loskarn, originally scheduled for this month, was delayed until Feb. 10.”

The federal criminal investigation into Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is broader than previously known, NBC New York reports.

“The Department of Justice is investigating Menendez’s efforts on behalf of two fugitive bankers from Ecuador… The probe into Menendez’s dealing with the bankers comes as federal authorities are also investigating his relationship to a big campaign donor from Florida. The criminal investigation is focusing in part on the senator’s ties to William and Roberto Isaias and whether the senator crossed a line in trying to help the two brothers stay in the United States.”

New York Times: “Meet the Senate’s oddest couple: Ron Johnson, Republican, and Tammy Baldwin, Democrat, of Wisconsin, the personification of this polarized Congress, right down to their mahogany desks at opposite ends of the Senate chamber. No two senators from the same state vote against each other more often than they do — 75 percent of the time in 2013, a review of Senate records shows.”

Senate Republicans “have deployed a new parliamentary tactic designed to end — or at least call attention to — the frequent Democratic ban on considering GOP amendments,” The Hill reports.

“Republicans have tried it four times, without success. But GOP aides say Republicans are likely to keep trying, to remind the Senate that its members are being denied the chance to amend legislation.”

“In the Senate, the majority leader gets the first crack at filing amendments to legislation that comes before the body. When Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) calls up legislation… That process is known as filling the amendment tree, and it usually blocks Republicans from offering up their own proposals for changing the bill. Republicans say Reid has used this tactic much more often than other recent Senate leaders.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “loves to stick his finger in the GOP establishment’s eye, and he did so again on Monday, hiring a top Republican operative who was fired just last month by House conservatives for leaking internal talks to outside groups,” National Journal reports.

“With his strong-armed change to the filibuster rule and an iron-fisted control of the Senate floor, Senator Harry Reid has engaged in the greatest consolidation of congressional power since Newt Gingrich ruled the House, unleashing a bitterness that may derail efforts to extend unemployment insurance,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Reid’s brutish style matters beyond the marbled chamber of the Senate. Senate legislation has increasingly turned into a battle over amendments and Mr. Reid’s uncompromising control over the process. The six Republicans who voted to take up the unemployment bill on Tuesday expected at least to be allowed votes on their amendments to shape the legislation. Instead, Mr. Reid dismissed all Republican proposals as unacceptable and then proposed his own new unemployment deal.”

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) declined to be interviewed for a Boston Magazine profile, yet she agreed to be photographed for it.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “said he was not currently considering an elimination of the filibuster for legislation, but he warned that the country could not remain ‘paralyzed’ by Republican obstruction,” The Hill reports.

Said Reid: “We’re not there yet. No, I’m not thinking about that today.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) earned the distinction of logging the most speaking time on the Senate floor in 2013, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Sessions spoke for more than 33 hours last year year, “just a few more hours than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who clocked in at roughly 30 hours in 2013.”

“That’s an impressive distinction considering that Reid opens and closes the Senate most days that it is in session, often making extended opening remarks, while Sessions is a member of the minority party without a formal leadership position.”

“Senate Republicans still smarting from a Democratic rules change that diminished their power to block President Obama’s appointees are vowing retribution against the majority when lawmakers return to work in January,” the Washington Examiner reports.

“The GOP in the final weeks of the 2013 session provided a glimpse into what that might mean in 2014. Unable to block most presidential nominees because of the Democratic rule change, Republicans are using their remaining authority to slow the Senate to a crawl, delaying action on routine matters that typically pass uncontested.”

The imminent departure of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), from both the Senate and the Senate Finance Committee, “has put a new focus on the panel and the chairmanship, which has declined in stature and influence compared with the vital role it played in the Senate almost from the beginning,” the New York Times reports.

“Without a shift in the power structure of the Senate, it appears likely the next committee leader will have only a fraction of the clout of those in the past.”

“Something like this happens, and all of a sudden the old barriers that were there, the old differences, those things that keep us apart just disappear. Those defined positions, they don’t change. But your attitude changes. And I can’t help but think when I’m confronting someone on something on which we disagree, that I know how they responded to my loss.”

— Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), in a NBC News interview, saying that “at least as many, maybe more” Democrats contacted him about the loss of his son in a plane crash last month.

A new National Journal poll found that 59% of Democrats said they agreed with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) move last month “to gut the ability of the minority party stall presidential nominees. Republicans strongly disagreed. Only 34% said the decision to allow nominees to be confirmed with only 51 votes was the right decision; 60% thought it was the wrong one.”

“The Senate will vote through the weekend on pending nominations that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would like to see completed before Christmas — just don’t expect most Republicans to be there for it,” Roll Call reports.

“Many GOP senators, still bristling from the rules changes enabling Democrats to proceed on said nominees, are planning to hit the exits for Christmas after Thursday night’s 11:15 defense bill vote. In the minds of these members, as long as one of their colleagues hangs behind to block consent requests from Democrats that would allow everyone regardless of party to go home, they apparently are cool skipping votes they have no power to defeat.”

“I met in the last few days with Rand Paul. I have spent a lot of time
with him, and I have grown to really like him. Even though he has some
set political views, he wants to get things done here.”

— Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), quoted by TPM.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) “is expected to be nominated by the White House to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to China,” Politico reports.

“It remains unclear when the appointment would take effect, but Baucus would have to win confirmation from his Senate colleagues. If he leaves before his term ends, Baucus would relinquish his gavel on the powerful Senate Finance Committee at a time when he is still aggressively pushing for a dramatic rewrite of the Tax Code, putting its chances in peril this Congress.”

Washington Post: “Assuming Baucus is confirmed sometime in 2014, it means there will be a vacancy in his seat. Gov. Steve Bullock (D) will get to make the appointment for the final year of Baucus’s term.”

The Fix: Three reasons the White House is sending Baucus to China.

“Harry, I’m going to go kick the crap out of you.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the New York Times, before giving a speech blasting Sen. Harry Reid’s proposal to change the filibuster rules.