You don't think the 'rats will use all of the 30 hours of debate time after cloture just to delay the vote until after the SOTU?
NO..they can't.Frist has already filed the cloture petition..they are on the 30 hour clock already..Monday afternoon is the earliest it can occur..
Normally, in the absense of a UC to the contrary, they WOULD have 30 hours of debate after the cloture VOTE, and the cloture vote would take place on the next day save one, meaning it would be on Saturday, allowing 30 hours of debate by tuesday.
The democrats (actually, the entire senate) agreed by UNANIMOUS CONSENT to limit the post-cloture debate to an hour or two on tuesday morning, in exchange for scheduling the cloture vote for monday afternoon instead of saturday.
The UC overrides the 30-hour rule. And to change it back, they would need a UC, which the republicans would reject.
I believe however that Reid could, if he really wanted to be snooty, call another of those "secret sessions" just before the vote, which would delay the vote another couple of hours.