Sen. Lisa Murkowski encouraged President Biden to choose a Supreme Court nominee who could receive broad bipartisan support and not pick the one that would be “to the furthest left,” Politico reports.

“More than 600 sitting senators have died or resigned from office since the first Congress met in 1789. That doesn’t mean another will happen soon, but it does underline the precarious position that President Joe Biden and Democrats’ reed-thin Senate majority are in following Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s stroke,” the AP reports.

“Luján, 49, should recover and return to the Capitol in four weeks to six weeks, barring setbacks, Democrats say. If that happens, Luján’s absence could have limited impact on his party’s priorities, including Biden’s pending nomination to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.”

“If the New Mexico senator’s recuperation takes longer or he has setbacks, Democrats’ agenda would confront serious problems. And with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote all that gives them the 50-50 Senate’s majority, each day presents a small chance that Democrats could abruptly lose control if something happens to any of their senators.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said President Joe Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court will need Republican support to receive Senate confirmation, McClatchy reports.

Said Clyburn: “I know how to count. I’m the whip. It has to be bipartisan. So I’m reaching out to the two Republicans from South Carolina. I’ve asked them for their support, but I’m talking to other Republicans, as well.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch slammed Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) n an editorial:

“We thought Hawley should’ve resigned his Senate seat for his role in the Capitol insurrection, but the idea that the United States should kneel down to Russia over Ukraine underscores how grossly unfit Hawley is to continue in office.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says he plans to subpoena Dr. Anthony Fauci’s records if Republicans retake the Senate in November’s midterm elections and he becomes chairman of a committee, The Hill reports.

Said Paul: “If we win in November, if I’m chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we’ll go after every one of his records. We’ll have an investigator go through this piece-by-piece because we don’t need this to happen again.”

“An episode Thursday shows how the objection process in the Senate works. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) has a bill (it cleared the House 416-2) that would make a site of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II into a national park. He tried to pass the measure by unanimous consent,” Politico reports.

“Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) then took to the floor and said he was a ‘noncombatant on this issue’ but objected on behalf of Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who was prevented from being there in person by winter storms snarling air travel.”

Said Cornyn: “I had the bad luck to be here when he communicated to me his desire that I make an objection.”

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) challenged Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden’s nominee to serve as the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, over the role she played in helping Reserve Trust, a little-known fintech company, get special access to the Fed’s payments system, The Hill reports.

Lummis said Raskin’s receipt of nearly 200,000 shares of stock worth nearly $1.5 million from a company that got special access to the Fed’s payments system “doesn’t smell right.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke to CNN about the secret, handwritten note he and Sen. Joe Manchin signed last summer ahead of Build Back Better negotiations, in which Manchin committed to a top line of $1.5 trillion.

Schumer insisted the document wasn’t an “agreement” but “part of his strategic way of listening to keep the process moving.”

Playbook: “Schumer also downplayed news that Pelosi didn’t know about the paper. It turns out, the White House wasn’t told either, according to the report. But Schumer said he had ‘no regrets’ about the way he handled it and argued that both the administration and the speaker knew Manchin’s parameters.”

“For months, Senate Democrats have quietly pondered an improbable but not unthinkable scenario — that their razor-thin majority, secured only by the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Harris, could be suddenly upended by the absence, incapacitation or death of a single senator!” the Washington Post reports.

“This week, that scenario became reality, with an unexpected twist: In a caucus with 16 senators over 70, including several with documented health issues, it was one of the youngest Democrats, Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, who suffered a stroke, leaving the Senate agenda in flux and Democrats pondering the fragility of their governing majority.”

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) is expected to return to the Senate in four to six weeks after suffering a stroke and undergoing brain surgery last week, CNBC reports.

That is, of course, barring any additional medical complications.

“I hate to be so personal, but Josh Hawley is one of the worst human beings, and a self-aggrandizing con artist. When Trump goes down I certainly hope this evil will be laid in the open for all to see, and be ashamed of.”

— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), on Twitter.

Former President Donald Trump ripped Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of his staunchest supporters, telling Newsmax that the senator is a “RINO” for saying that pardoning the Capitol rioters would be “inappropriate.”

Said Trump: “Lindsey’s a nice guy, but he’s a RINO. Lindsey’s wrong… Lindsey Graham doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

Punchbowl News: “We have no idea how long Luján will be sidelined during his recovery. There’s no timetable for his return at this point. On two previous occasions where senators suffered strokes – former Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) – it took them months to return to the Capitol. And however long Luján remains absent, the Senate Democratic leadership is going to be in a jam.”