The scheduled business is urgent action on an emergency supplemental appropriations measure meant to provide funding needed now by our troops in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is little hope of passing urgent legislative business, such as a long-stalled deal on sharing proceeds from deep-sea oil drilling between states, while politicians gossip, plot and counter-plot.
But investor-owned companies, private equity and other financiers are beginning to move into the urgent and immediate care business as pressure from lawmakers, employers and insurers on hospitals to treat patients in less costly outpatient care settings.
More generally, a combination of the new Backbench Business Committee facilitating debates on subjects MPs want to talk about, and the Speaker allowing many more urgent questions - and, memorably, the emergency debate on phone hacking - have created a much more vibrant Commons.