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An old era in Washington is winding down as some GOP senators eye the exits

First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
Image: Republican Sen. Roy Blunt
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., pauses during a press conference, March 8, 2021, in Springfield, Mo.Jeff Roberson / AP

WASHINGTON — Sen. Roy Blunt’s, R-Mo., announcement that he won’t seek re-election next year — following the same decisions by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio — represents more than an exodus of non-Trump Republicans.

It represents the end of the Bush Era Republicans in Washington — or close to it.

Portman, after all, worked as a top official in the Bush 43 administration before getting elected to the Senate in 2010.

Burr first won election to the upper chamber in 2004, which was the year W. Bush won re-election.

And while both Blunt and Toomey first won their House seats during Bill Clinton’s presidency, they cut their political teeth during the Bush years before both won their Senate seats in 2010 (the same year Portman did).

The Blunt/Burr/Portman/Toomey exits — along with Sen. Richard Shelby’s, R-Ala. — raise these questions:

One, just how Trump-y will the GOP primaries get in Alabama, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania?

Two, what will governing look like in 2023, even with the recognition that all five retiring GOP senators (along with the rest of their caucus) voted against the Biden/Democratic Covid relief deal?

And three, what happens with another Bush Era Republican up for re-election in 2022: Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., (who was first elected to the Senate in 2004).

Tweet of the day

Biden’s growing border problem

“A record number of unaccompanied migrant children are in Border Patrol custody and shelter beds are scarce, raising fears of a new humanitarian crisis at the southern border,” NBC’s Geoff Bennett, Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff report.

“More than 3,200 unaccompanied migrant children are being housed in Customs and Border Protection holding facilities, two sources confirmed. The New York Times, citing internal CBP documents, first reported that the number of detained children had ‘tripled in the last two weeks."

“Nearly half of the children — 1,400 — have been held beyond the three-day legal limit.”

Not surprisingly, Republicans have seized on the news coming from the border.

And remember, immigration is an issue that unites Republicans.

Data Download: The numbers you need to know today

Five: The number of GOP senators who now say they’re not running again in 2022.

One: The number of governors of New York who have been impeached, to date.

About 300,000: The number of Venezuelans living in the United States who will be eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status under a new Biden plan.

29,178,832: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 53,757 more than yesterday morning.)

528,290: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far, per the most recent data from NBC News. (That’s 721 more than yesterday morning.)

92,089,852: Number of vaccine doses administered in the U.S.

9.4 percent: The share of Americans who are fully vaccinated.

51: The number of days left for Biden to reach his 100-day vaccination goal.

Senate moves forward with Garland, Fudge nominations

The Senate is returning to Cabinet nomination duty today, and here’s what to expect for the rest of the week:

Today: The Senate will move forward on procedural cloture motion votes for HUD secretary nominee Rep. Marcia Fudge and Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland. Those votes will likely clear the way for their confirmations on Wednesday.

Wednesday: Fudge’s nomination will be voted on at noon, and then Garland’s will follow in the mid-afternoon.

But after Fudge and Garland move through the Senate, Biden will still have two nominees in limbo: HHS secretary nominee Xavier Becerra and Interior secretary pick Deb Haaland.

NBC’s Julie Tsirkin reports on Becerra: “The Senate Finance Committee had their first tie vote last week — on Xavier Becerra’s nomination to lead HHS. The party-line vote leaves Becerra’s fate in Schumer’s hands, who could still bring his confirmation vote to the Senate floor — which we expect him to do. With all 14 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee voting against Becerra, it sets up a real possibility that VP Harris will be required to cast the tie-breaking vote to get Becerra confirmed.”

And NBC expects Haaland’s nomination to be up for a full Senate vote as soon as this week.

Biden Cabinet Watch

State: Tony Blinken (confirmed)

Treasury: Janet Yellen (confirmed)

Defense: Ret. Gen. Lloyd Austin (confirmed)

Attorney General: Merrick Garland

Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas (confirmed)

HHS: Xavier Becerra

Agriculture: Tom Vilsack (confirmed)

Transportation: Pete Buttigieg (confirmed)

Energy: Jennifer Granholm (confirmed)

Interior: Deb Haaland

Education: Miguel Cardona (confirmed)

Commerce: Gina Raimondo (confirmed)

Labor: Marty Walsh

HUD: Marcia Fudge

Veterans Affairs: Denis McDonough (confirmed)

UN Ambassador: Linda Thomas-Greenfield (confirmed)

Director of National Intelligence: Avril Haines (confirmed)

EPA: Michael Regan

SBA: Isabel Guzman

OMB Director: Neera Tanden (withdrawn)

U.S. Trade Representative: Katherine Tai

And the number of the week is … 23

That’s the number of candidates who have filed to run in the special election in Texas’s 6th congressional district on May 1. Head over to The Chuck Toddcast to catch up on why it might be one to keep an eye on.

ICYMI: What else is happening in the world

Here’s the latest on an election bill in Georgia that critics call a transparent effort to hurt Black voter turnout.

Black and Latino churches have been central to the vaccine effort, although misinformation remains a threat.

Biden will make his first primetime address on Thursday to mark the one year anniversary of the first wave of Covid shutdowns.

The Supreme Court has rejected Trump’s final 2020 election challenge.

The Biden administration is spearheading a huge new diplomatic effort to end the conflict in Afghanistan.

The Covid relief bill’s changes to Obamacare are likely to set up a big health care fight in 2022.

What do the Cuomo allegations mean for Joe Biden?

Biden’s dogs are back in Delaware after Major had a “biting incident” at the White House.