How Ben Ray Luján's absence could affect the Senate's agenda
Senator Ben Ray Luján, who suffered a stroke last week and remains hospitalized, is expected to return to Washington and be back at work in four to six weeks. In the meantime, Senate Democrats will not have enough votes to pass legislation on their own, since they cannot afford to lose a single senator from their 50-50 majority.
Here are some of the issues that could come up in the next few weeks:
Supreme Court justice nomination
Luján's anticipated return within six weeks appears to align with President Biden's plan to fill the Supreme Court seat that will be left vacant by Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement at the end of the term. Luján does not sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but his vote could be crucial for the confirmation of a Biden-nominated justice.
Government shutdown
Without new funding later this month, the government would go into partial shutdown after February 18, which is before Luján's expected return. The Senate had Republican support in December when it passed a continuing resolution to keep the government fully open with a 69-28 vote, which was more than the 60 votes needed to pass.
However, on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats want to pass an appropriations measure with new funding levels, not another continuing resolution, which extends funding in the short term at current levels. It can be more difficult to attract bipartisan support for appropriations bills.
Confirmation votes
Judges
President Biden has a number of federal judges to be confirmed by the Senate. So far, work on these nominations appears to be proceeding. Some of those nominees received Republican support in procedural votes Wednesday. Since Mr. Biden took office, many of the judges confirmed also received some GOP votes, so it seems likely that some of the president's nominees could be confirmed without Luján's support.
The Fed
The Senate is also considering Mr. Biden's three nominees for the Federal Reserve — Sarah Bloom Raskin, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson. On Thursday, they will be appearing for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, and will eventually require a vote by the full Senate for confirmation.
Raskin, who would be the top banking regulator for the Fed, was easily confirmed by the Senate the last two times she was nominated for a Senate-confirmed position. This time, however, she faces what's likely to be a more difficult confirmation hearing because of her more liberal views on climate policy.
Ambassador to Ukraine
And then there's Mr. Biden's choice for ambassador to Ukraine, Ambassador Bridget Brink. Brink has been approved by Kyiv, but the president hasn't announced her nomination yet. She will need to be confirmed by the Senate, too, although ambassadors are often confirmed with votes from across the aisle. Brink, who is a career diplomat, was easily confirmed by the Senate in 2019 for her current post; she is the ambassador to Slovakia.
Electoral Count Act
The Senate also appears to be making progress on bipartisan consideration of reforms to the Electoral Count Act, an attempt to ensure state electors can't be tossed out and to make it tougher for Congress to consider objections to state results, among other things. Senators are still hashing out the legislation in a bipartisan working group.
Build Back Better
For now, Senator Joe Manchin says the Build Back Better Act — the president's social spending agenda to funnel money into things like child care and pre-K education — remains "dead." And that's with or without Luján's presence on the floor. Retooled efforts to break up the major spending plan into individual legislation addressing climate change and measures to help families have yet to emerge.
Committee work
Luján's committees may slow down, too, since most Senate committees are evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. He sits on five committees — the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; and the Senate Budget Committee.
–CBS News' Ed O'Keefe and Alan He contributed to this report.
