With the Congress off next week for a July 4th break, that means lawmakers will act like kids who haven't studied for a test, and try to jam as much work into this week as possible.

While the start of hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will dominate on this Monday, she may well find herself overshadowed by several other issues this week.

Tomorrow, the Senate Armed Services Committee hears from Gen. David Petraeus, who has been tabbed as the new commander of the war in Afghanistan.

Also this week, Democrats in the House and Senate hope to move forward on the final deal on Wall Street Reform legislation, which was hammered out around sunrise on Friday, all of it on C-SPAN.

"I am proud of this bill, and I am proud of the open and transparent process that led to such a successful result," said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

If you are tired of playing Solitaire on your computer or have finally gotten bored with Facebook, then you can read through the bill at http://is.gd/d6B7K - a summary of the bill from the House Financial Services Committee can be found at http://is.gd/d6Bbz

For those interested in numbers, the final bill is 2,315 pages long.  The summary is only ten pages long.  Maybe you could make your way through that review.

A vote on that bill could come as early as Tuesday in the House, and then later this week in the Senate.

It won't be all work this week, as the House will vote on congratulating the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup and the University of Southern California for winning the men's NCAA Championship.

Lawmakers are off next week, and return the week of July 12.

As we reported last week, the House will only work for three weeks, until the end of July, and then take a break until after Labor Day.

The Senate seems likely to work an extra week, until the first Friday in August.

All the while, the clock ticks inexorably towards November 2.