Senate leaders have made it clear that the expected confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be the chamber’s finale before a monthlong recess.

Between now and then they’ll be scrambling to work through an Agriculture appropriations bill (HR 2997), travel promotion legislation (S 1023) and additional funding for the “cash for clunkers” auto trade-in program.

The six Senate Finance Committee members who have been trying to hash out a bipartisan health care bill are not expected to do any heavy lifting this week. But as the various interests in the debate step up their efforts, Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., has said that Democrats will try to sell the benefits of the emerging package.

The debate over Sotomayor’s confirmation is scheduled to begin Tuesday. The expected confirmation of the first Latina nominee to the high court will serve as the “curtain-closer” of the five-week work period, said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill.

Meanwhile, the Finance Committee’s failure to produce a health care bill before the recess opened up floor time to deal with the Agriculture appropriations bill. A vote is scheduled Monday at 5:30 p.m. to limit debate on the substitute amendment.

The top members of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas, are pushing to finish the bill Monday evening, but debate could stretch into Tuesday.

In addition, Reid hopes to complete travel promotion legislation — a priority in his home state of Nevada — that got hung up in June in a dispute over amendments.

Reid pulled the bill after a cloture vote to limit debate fell short. The bill would create a corporation to promote the United States as a tourist destination, matching private contributions with up to $100 million from a new fee on visas.

Reid, who is up for re-election next year, expects to file another motion to limit debate on the measure, but he has not yet announced the timing of the vote. He would like to schedule it so that Barbara A. Mikulski , D-Md., who is recovering from an ankle injury that required hospitalization, can participate.

“This legislation stalled earlier in the year, but I believe I now have the votes to make this bill law,” he said.

Another bill heading to the Senate deals with replenishing the “cash for clunkers” program. The House passed legislation (HR 3435) July 31 that would transfer $2 billion from the economic stimulus law (PL 111-5) to boost auto trade-ins, after reports that the program had exhausted, in just its first week, the $1 billion allocated to it.

Individual Spending Bills Remain a Goal

Delaying the health care debate until September presages a busy fall because of priorities for completing individual spending bills, climate change legislation and financial services regulation.