Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it ''particularly ridiculous'' for the Senate to schedule its business to accommodate the two Democratic senators running for president.

McConnell is steamed that Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed Wednesday's action on a bill that would enhance life insurance benefits for disabled veterans to allow Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to be present to vote on an amendment dealing with equal pay.

Instead of convening Wednesday morning, the Senate will meet at 5 p.m. ET. That's because of a rule that requires cloture votes to be held one hour after the Senate opens for business. Sixty votes are needed for cloture.

The cloture vote is widely expected to fail, so the votes of Clinton and Obama are more symbolic than anything. Republican John McCain, who has his party's nomination sewn up, is not expected to be present for the vote.

An amendment attached to the bill aims to reverse a Supreme Court decision that reduced the amount of time women have to sue if they believe they are being discriminated against in terms of pay.

It is called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and is named for the woman who lost her discrimination suit against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., after the high court decided that she had waited too long to sue.

Ledbetter, who retired making $6,500 less than the lowest-paid male supervisor, appeared at a news conference Wednesday with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, who urged passage of the amendment. The measure would expand the 180-day deadline for filing in cases related to race, sex, religion or national origin.

Opponents of the amendment fear it will open the floodgates for litigation.

For his part, McConnell said Democrats have established a pattern of delaying votes to accommodate the candidates.

"Now, look, we understand people have to run for president and are not likely to be here much of the time. But to have the schedule of the Senate completely revolve around the schedule of the Democratic presidential candidates strikes me as particularly ridiculous," he said.

He pointed to the closed doors of the Senate on a Wednesday afternoon and said more attention should be paid to what's happening when the telephone rings at 3 p.m. in the Senate, a jab at the campaign commercials that feature a 3 a.m. call at the White House.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, said he's tired of Democratic complaints that he's trying to hold up help for America's veterans. He said this all could have been finished in the morning had Reid not delayed the start of business.

FOX News' Major Garrett and Trish Turner contributed to this report.