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(CNN) – Soon to be Massachusetts Sen. Paul Kirk arrived on Capitol Hill Friday to cheers from staffers and friends of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

As he entered Kennedy's office, an emotional Kirk told CNN it was "exciting and sobering" to take the place of his longtime friend in the Senate.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick appointed Kirk to the post Thursday. He will serve in the Senate until a special election is held in January to fill the seat.

Kirk is will be sworn in later Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – In effort to show fellow Democrats he hears their deep concerns about his health care plan, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus plans to make changes to his own proposal even before the committee starts voting Tuesday on hundreds of proposed amendments to the $774 billion dollar plan.

The biggest concern he will begin to address: affordability.

Two Democratic sources close to Baucus tell CNN he plans to use the $28 billion surplus in the plan cited by the Congressional Budget Office to help Americans pay for health insurance that would be mandatory under his proposal.

The Baucus sources say he will discuss this in a Monday evening meeting with committee Democrats.

Late last Friday, 564 amendments were filed to make changes to Baucus' proposal, including a significant number from Democrats looking for ways to make health coverage more affordable.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Two Democratic sources tell CNN that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus will make a significant announcement about the process and timetable for moving his health care plan forward at 12:15 pm.

UPDATE: Baucus came out of a closed meeting with all Democrats on the Finance Committee and said that he plans to formally unveil the committee's health care bill next week, and will set a markup for the following week - and that he plans to move forward, with or without Republicans.

Baucus said Republicans have had a lot of input, and that he will keep working with them through next week and during the markup to offer their ideas. But the announcement seems to signal there is no guarantee he will get Republican votes, or the bipartisan bill he's worked on for months.

The Gang of Six still plans to meet with Republicans this afternoon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The stage is set for a nail-biter of a vote in the Senate late Thursday or Friday on a giant spending bill that’s been the subject of fierce debate because of its high costs and the thousands of pet projects it funds, according to multiple Senate sources who are tracking the vote count.

A Democratic leadership aide says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is working the phones to get the 60 votes he needs to pass the $410 billion measure, which funds the government for the rest of the year with about an eight percent increase in spending.

If the Senate fails to pass the omnibus spending bill, Reid has said they would pass what is known as a continuing resolution to keep the government running past Friday. That would mean the much talked about 8,500 earmarks worth close to $8 billion would not get through Congress.

In the past 24 hours, two Democratic senators, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, announced they would not vote for the spending bill because of its high cost. Other Democratic senators, such as Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, are still weighing their votes.

Despite the uncertainty on the Democratic side of the aisle, some aides predicted enough Republicans would vote for the bill to ensure its passage, pointing to GOP votes on key amendments this week that indicate Republican support for the final bill.

Democrats will likely schedule the vote Thursday night if they are confident they have the votes in line, but will push it to Friday if they’re uncertain.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Senate Republicans have decided to delay a vote on a resolution to strip embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens from his committee assignments, Republican senators told CNN Tuesday.

The Senate GOP caucus is delaying the vote in part because the outcome of Stevens' reelection race against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich remains in doubt.

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint - a leading Republican critic of Stevens - issued a statement saying it is "clear there are sufficient votes to pass the resolution... The question now is timing. Some who support the resolution believe we should address this after the results of his election are confirmed in Alaska."

DeMint stated that he would ask the GOP Conference to postpone the vote on Sen. Stevens until Thursday.

One Republican senator told CNN there is no point in holding any vote to strip Stevens of his committee assignments if Stevens loses his seat.

Begich currently has a narrow lead over Stevens, with 47.37 percent of the votes counted, compared to 47.02 percent for Stevens. The two are separated by 1,022 votes out of more than 290,000 cast, according to the Alaska Division of Elections Web site.

Today, 24,000 outstanding votes from the southern part of Alaska are expected to be counted. Absentee ballots, however, are still coming in from overseas. All absentee ballots must be received by tomorrow.

Stevens, who turns 85 Tuesday, was convicted in October of filing false statements on Senate financial disclosure forms. He currently serves on the Senate Appropriations, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Rules committees.

John McCain is set to return to the Senate next week.

(CNN) - Former GOP presidential candidate John McCain will return to the Senate next week to participate in the lame duck session, his chief of staff Mark Buse tells CNN.

Buse calls McCain “eager” to get back to work in the Senate, saying they talked about focusing specifically on Iraq, Afghanistan and the struggling economy.

McCain is now at his home near Sedona, Arizona, where he went the morning after the election.

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, among McCain’s close friends who were with him at his creek-side cabin this week, tells CNN that McCain is of course disappointed with the election’s outcome.

“He put his heart in it. It didn’t turn out the way he liked,” Graham said.

However, Graham also says McCain is a “duty bound guy who won’t go A.W.O.L. from his duties in the Senate.” Graham insists McCain is determined to fight President-elect Barack Obama on his tax plan, but is also eager to “find common ground” on other big issues.

Graham reiterated what he told CNN election night, that he hopes McCain will become the next “lion” of the Senate who works across the aisle to find compromise on key legislation.

Lieberman was not happy with what Reid had to offer, an aide said.

UPDATE: Democratic source says Reid offered Veterans Affairs chairmanship

(CNN) - An aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman tells CNN that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Lieberman he wanted him to give up his position as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, and instead take the helm of a lower profile full committee.

A Senate Democratic source familiar with the meeting confirms that account and tells CNN that one of options Reid gave Lieberman in a private meeting Thursday is Chairman of the Veteran’s Affairs Committee.

But the aide to Lieberman says the Connecticut senator made clear that was “not acceptable” to him, and reminded Reid that he was one of the Senators who wrote the legislation creating the Homeland Security Department, and that’s where he wants to stay.

Nothing was resolved in the meeting, and the Lieberman aide tells CNN that although he still wants to caucus with the Democrats, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell has contacted Lieberman about formally aligning with Republicans, and that Lieberman is “keeping all of his options open.”

An aide to McConnell confirms to CNN that the two men “have been talking.”

This Lieberman aide, who insisted the meeting was very cordial, also says that he reminded Reid that he may have been elected an Independent, but that he has voted overwhelmingly with the Democrats.

The Senate Democratic source says this issue will now likely be dealt with by the full Senate Democratic caucus, when it meets on November 18th.

Lieberman was a fixture on the campaign trail with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and Reid is under pressure from many Democrats to punish him for harsh criticism of Barack Obama in a speech at the Republican convention.

A spokesman for Reid had no immediate comment on the specifics of the meeting, except to say that it was “frank,” and that the two agreed to talk more about Lieberman’s future role in the Senate.

The two met on Thursday.