As lawmakers struggle to solve the fiscal cliff, they're also struggling for the right to snack on movie night.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will make a formal appeal to the Senate Rules Committee in order to allow popcorn into the Senate's special screening of the new movie "Lincoln" in the Capitol Complex.

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The screening, for all Senators and their spouses, will take place in the Capitol Visitors Center on Wednesday,December 19th.

Since food is not allowed in the room, the Majority Leader's office must get a special waiver to allow for it.

A Senate aide says Reid's office is currently going through the process of getting approval -because even Senators need their movie snacks.

President Obama held a private screening of the movie at the White House last month.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has invited Steven Spielberg screen Lincoln December 12th. But what's different about this invitation is that Reid is offering to provide the U.S. Senate to Spielberg as the theatre. Reid's invite only recently went out - it is presumed that Spielberg will accept for his movie to play in the historic setting. No one is yet sure if this has ever been done by a movie before. (Of course, movies play at the White house all the time, and Lincoln is no exception: it screened November 15th for President Obama, Spielberg, cast and crew members at the executive mansion.)

The film's release was delayed until after the 2012 Election - but DreamWorks still scheduled a special extended 2-minute TV ad during the commercial break right after the first Presidential Debate. Reid, a Democrat, is a huge fan of the biopic about the most famous Republican president.

The movie is playing well all across the country, primarily for adult audiences, but in red states as well as blue states. Politicos and pundits on both sides of the aisle have praised the film which is Oscar-touted. Now it remains to be seen if Reid's invite will be politicized - and if the attendance during this lame duck session will be bipartisan. " The irony is that what's happening with the fiscal cliff isn't that different from what's going on in the movie," one of the film's insider reacts to me about the Senate invitation." Everything is in a countdown mode." The film was also financed by Participant Media and is distributed by Disney and Fox.