Holding pattern

Kate at Sen. Harkin's office said that Senate Republican and Democratic leaders are huddling to see if they can come to terms with ground rules to proceed with debate on the farm bill. The willingness is there to do something, but so far the process is still in a holding pattern. About 115 amendments have been submitted so far, and one lobbyist told me the task is to decide which amendments will be considered and how much time will be devoted to each. We should know more tomorrow, one hopes.