Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., plans to start the new Congress with a rare Sunday vote that could test whether an expanded Democratic majority can overcome Republican opposition to legislation.

Reid announced Wednesday that the Senate will vote Sunday on an omnibus public lands bill that Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn blocked several times last year.

He said he want to get the lands bill out of the way swiftly so the Senate can take up legislation to make it easier for women who are paid less than their male counterparts to sue their employers and be compensated in the courts.

The House plans to vote on the employment bill Friday, and then turn next week to an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which President Bush vetoed in the last Congress.

“Everyone should understand,” Reid said. “Sunday morning we’re going to have a vote in the Senate.”

The lands bill, reintroduced Wednesday by Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman , D-N.M., combines more than 150 bills to expand wilderness areas and protect other federal lands.

Reid criticized Coburn for throwing up “every procedural hurdle” to block passage of the bill, which represents a priority for Reid’s rural home state. Coburn, who has vowed to use any parliamentary tactic at his disposal to block the measure, has renewed his objections, contending the package would lead to wasteful spending.

“The decision by Senate leaders to kick off the new Congress with an earmark-laden omnibus lands bill makes a mockery of voters’ hopes for change,” Coburn said in a statement.

Perhaps trying to discourage Republicans from throwing up procedural roadblocks, Reid threatened a series of weekend sessions to expedite Senate action.

“We’re going to have to spend a little time on Saturdays, Sundays and nighttime” during the first several months of the new Congress, he said, encouraging senators to cancel their weekend travel plans.

Reid often threatened weekend sessions during his first two years as majority leader, but he rarely followed through.