It's Friday, April 8 and Day 55 since Justice Antonin Scalia died and Sen. Mitch McConnell laid down his Supreme Court blockade: No meetings, no hearings, no votes on his replacement. There have actually been a few meetings between Republican senators and President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, and now Sen. Lindsey Graham has reversed course and will meet with Garland out of "courtesy," but insists nothing will come of it.
So what are they spending their time on besides not filling a critical vacancy on the nation's highest court? Perhaps negotiating out of the public eye on the thing that's taken up the majority of the week—the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization. They've had a few votes and killed what would have been a popular amendment with the voting public. That's apparently exhausting, because they decided to start the public part of this day at 3:00 PM when they'll begin with "Morning Business."
Anything about that Supreme Court business this week? Other than some unhinged speeches on the floor from our old friend Chuck Grassley, not really. But Mitch McConnell wants you to know that "this has been an incredibly productive new Senate majority." Steve Benen knocked up this graph to show just what McConnell's definition of "productive" looks like.