It's Wednesday, June 8 and Day 116 since Justice Antonin Scalia died and Mitch McConnell laid down his Supreme Court blockade: No meetings, no hearings, no votes on his replacement. It's also Day 85 since President Obama named Merrick Garland to be Scalia's replacement. What's the Senate doing today instead of considering the Supreme Court nominee?
After a joint session of Congress to hear Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking about unity and cooperation, Mitch McConnell will pick a big spending fight with Democrats, offering up an amendment from Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain to substantially increase defense spending. Because it's the Senate, and it's a little harder to do unilateral things than it is in the House, there will also be one from Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed to increase non-defense spending.
But the fireworks for McConnell are probably going to come from a familiar corner. Now that he's just a senator again, Ted Cruz is back to his old tricks, saying he won't vote for the defense authorization because it would require women to register for the draft. He doesn't say how far he'll go to derail the bill, but he's got his sidekick Utah Sen. Mike Lee behind him, so who knows what he'll be able to cook up. Whatever it is, it will be no more than Mitch McConnell deserves.
In case you're wondering, they're not doing anything about the Supreme Court vacancy (or any other vacancy, actually) today.
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