In a legislative chamber where the 48-hour work week has largely become the norm, the Senate wrapped up its last vote of the week on Thursday afternoon with no other votes scheduled for the next 18 days. It was the worst-attended vote of the year.
Thirty senators didn’t bother showing up to end debate on a circuit court nomination Thursday, a notable number of absences in a chamber where notably little is ever accomplished. But for the 70 senators who were on Capitol Hill, many found a way to spin the lackluster attendance.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon — the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee — boasted that his panel had “almost perfect attendance” at a closed-door Democratic meeting this morning. He recalled that only Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who is on trial for allegedly accepting foreign bribes, didn’t make it.