Senate Expected To “Go Nuclear” Regarding Gorsuch Confirmation Today

Negotiations to avert having to implement the nuclear option Harry Reid option

collapsed, so, now we’re going to get this

(The Hill) Senate Republicans are expected to trigger the “nuclear option” on Thursday, eliminating the minority party’s power to filibuster Supreme Court nominees.

The historic vote will ensure the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s pick for the high court, preserving a conservative majority that had been in doubt after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death early last year.

If all goes as expected, Gorsuch will receive a final confirmation vote Friday.

It appears as if the Senate will attempt a vote to end debate and move forward with the final vote on Gorsuch. If Democrats continue to filibuster and/or vote to continue debate, McConnell will trigger the Reid Option.

Some Republicans are suggesting that the rules be changed further in order to speed up confirmation of Trump’s nominees.

Who’s to blame? Both parties. Why? Because this is politics. It’s a dirty game. It has always been a dirty game. Democrats can say it’s because of Republicans blocking Merrick Garland. Republicans can say they were just applying the Biden Rule. Dems can say that Republicans attempted to gum up the works on Obama’s nominees. Republicans can say that Dems did the same on Bush’s nominees.

It’s politics. It hasn’t gotten more hardcore: it’s just that more people are “involved” with all the social media and 24 hour cable news stations.

Cloture has long been a part of the Senate rules. Originally, it required two-thirds. That was changed in 1975 by….Senate Democrats, who instituted a three-fifths option. Remember, none of this is required by the Constitution. The Constitution allows for the Senate to set its own rules, but, still only requires a simple majority for votes. Which, interestingly, some Liberals have argued as being against democracy because it gives smaller states (that Democrats do not control) as much power as big states (that Dems do control).

Anyhow, perhaps this does mean that Congressional Republicans are finally stiffening their spines. For so long they have been cowed into doing what the Democrats want with little fight-back. Will they continue to have spine? Time will tell.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Save $10 on purchases of $49.99 & up on our Fruit Bouquets at 1800flowers.com. Promo Code: FRUIT49
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds.

Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed

2 Responses to “Senate Expected To “Go Nuclear” Regarding Gorsuch Confirmation Today”

  1. Dana says:

    For the Democrats, there are only two options:

    1 – Have eight Democrats vote to invoke cloture, thus preserving the filibuster option, though they could lose it in the future; or
    2 – Refuse to invoke cloture, and get beaten down with the Reid option.

    In both cases, Judge Gorsuch gets is confirmation vote, and takes a seat on the Supreme Court. Common sense tells anyone with common sense — something that excludes a lot of leftists — that the Democrats lose less with the first option.

    Which means that they must have some other reason for continuing to fight the Gorsuch nomination . . . and that reason is money. The mouth-breathers on the left want the Democrats to fight to the bitter end, and, in a way, they have their own version of Donald Trump in Chuck Schumer. The Democrats believe that there will be a considerable drying up of campaign contributions from the left if they don’t fight the Gorsuch nomination to the bitter end.

    There’s even a simple way to avoid this, without a cloture vote. Senator McConnell could simply schedule the floor vote, and as long as no Democrat objects, the vote occurs. That way, there’s no record of a particular senator voting for cloture, and the rules don’t get changed. But they’ve gone so far out on the limb that they can’t take that option now.

  2. drowningpuppies says:

    “You can’t have a democracy decided by 60 out of 100, and that’s why changing the rules is one of the best things that has happened to America in a long time.”
    –Sen. Harry Reid

    Thanks Harry!

    signed
    –Donnie and Neil

Pirate's Cove