It's Thursday, April 7, and day 54 since Mitch McConnell laid down his Supreme Court blockade: no meetings, no hearings, no votes. There have actually been a few meetings between Republican senators and President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, so the blockade has been slightly breached, but the majority of Republicans are stilly firmly determined to not do their job.
So what are they spending their time on besides not filling a critical vacancy on the nation's highest court? Once again they're voting today. They're working the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, and today it's amendments, including one that most people probably would have really appreciated. So of course, it failed.
By a 54-to-43 vote on the Senate floor, a measure was defeated that would have kept airlines from reducing seat size and the distance between rows for 30 days. Meantime, the Federal Aviation Administration would have had 180 days to come up with regulations on the width, padding and leg room each seat should provide. The measure, proposed as an amendment to a FAA reauthorization the Senate is considering, also would have required airlines to prominently display on their websites just how much space they allowed for each passenger. […]
In the 1970s, the average cheap seat was 18 inches wide. Now it’s about an inch and a half less. In the old days, there was almost a yard of distance between rows in the economy section. Today, it’s about 31 inches.
Mitch McConnell's Senate, ensuring that you'll be as uncomfortable on all your future flights as possible. And that your Supreme Court remains broken.