It's Friday, May 13 and Day 90 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 58 since President Obama named Merrick Garland to be Scalia's replacement. What's the Senate doing today instead of considering the Supreme Court nominee?
Are you kidding? It's Friday! They're not working. What's more, they had a vote yesterday and passed an appropriations bill and when you have a big vote, of course you need a day off to recover. Loyal readers of this feature will remember that for about three weeks (with a one-week break in the middle) the Senate had been fighting over a crazy Tom Cotton (and if it's from the Arkansas Republican, you don't really need the crazy qualifier added—it's assumed) amendment about the Iran nuclear deal. Three times Mitch McConnell made the whole Senate take a cloture vote on the full bill that could include the Cotton amendment, and three times Democrats blocked. McConnell finally gave in, gave Cotton a separate vote, and then moved the whole bill. To probably little end, since at this point it seems pretty unlikely the House will reciprocate. But spinning wheels to create the illusion of a functioning Senate is McConnell's strategy for making people think all Republicans aren't Donald Trump.
There had been a little hope that McConnell would have a vote on Paula Xinis, who has been waiting for a floor vote to fill the vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division since last September. But they put that off until Monday—big vote yesterday, they've got to catch their wind.
And apparently, McConnell doesn't want to look as bad as House Republicans, so he has agreed to have Zika funding votes next week. Three of them. However ...
They will be "tacked onto a package that combines the transportation and military construction appropriations bills." Which means they'll be subject to any kind of poison pill amendments a Tom Cotton or a Ted Cruz or a Mike Lee could come up with.
Meanwhile, Merrick Garland has completed his nominee questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which the committee in turn posted online. Republicans are expected to ignore it.
Please donate $3 today to help turn the Senate blue. The future of the Supreme Court depends on it.