As you read this, Republicans have a 50-49 Senate majority, but you probably haven't heard much about it. This is because of a stroke suffered by New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan.
The full report on this story, which broke over two weeks ago, can be found HERE.
But since then the news has been...the lack of news, followed by a video released by Sen. Lujan himself. The stroke he suffered was on January 27th, but he did not make the facts public for nearly a week. That's understandable with a serious medical problem, which then required cranial surgery. However, when the balance of the Senate is hanging, it's a bit of a surprise that no further updates were given until Super Bowl Sunday.
To catch you up, the original statement was that Senator Lujan would rejoin the Senate in "4-6 weeks." That put his return at roughly early March. (Senators cannot vote remotely, and must be on the Senate floor).
This weekend, flanked by two doctors and sitting at a table, Lujan sounded strong but said in his edited video that he is still at the hospital recovering and that he needs to go to a rehabilitation facility once he's done, all before returning to the Senate, "in just a few short weeks." Early March is looking less likely.
The only deadline Senator Lujan puts on his return is to "consider a Supreme Court nominee." But considering there's no deadline on that either, it doesn't add much to a possible timeline.
Meanwhile, President Biden has been courting Senate Republicans, and recently said, "I think whomever I pick will get a vote from the Republicans." Adding, "I'm not looking to make an ideological choice."
Ryan Wiggins is the author of the extremely serious and not funny robot novel, The Life of Human, and is a writer and producer of television shows. He is the host of Wiggins America on 97.1 FM Talk in St. Louis.