Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about judges, ducks, and a race.

The race is on in the U.S. Senate for Democrats to confirm as many federal judges as they can before the end of the session.

So even though Republicans took control of the Senate during the

last election, they don't get to exercise their newfound power until the incoming senators are

sworn in on January 3rd. This period after the election and before the new group is sworn in

is known as the lame duck period. Between now and then,

Democrats have a number of things they want to do, but a top priority is to finish confirming

Biden's nominees for lifetime federal judgeships. The first of those confirmations occurred yesterday.

There are 30 more waiting to be confirmed between now and January. Like anything up on Capitol Hill, there's a process. The

nominations aren't just put to a vote. There's a committee process as well. 16 of the 30

remaining have already made it through the Senate Judiciary Committee's process and are ready to be voted on.

The other 14 still have to undergo their review.

They have a pretty good shot of getting them through.

The confirmations only require a simple majority.

So far, during Biden's term, the Senate has confirmed 214 of his judicial nominees. If the Senate can

push through the rest, it'll put Biden at 244. That's an incredibly high number. Most of Biden's nominations have been women.

The other thing pressing Congress right now is a funding fight. Because Republicans in the House

weren't capable of ever getting together a budget, they're still running on borrowed time.

And that time runs out before Trump takes office.

The current funding runs out December 20th.

That leaves Republicans with three options.

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