Posted on 02/01/2017 11:14:36 AM PST by jeannineinsd
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted on Wednesday that Neil Gorsuch, Trump's Supreme Court pick, will need 60 votes to clear the upper chamber.
"We Democrats will insist on a rigorous but fair process. There will be 60 votes for confirmation," he said from the Senate floor. "There will be 60 votes for confirmation."
Trump's nomination of the well-respected conservative jurist is kicking off a high-stakes battle in the Senate. Five progressive lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), have already come out in opposition to Trump's nominee.
Schumer said requiring 60 votes for confirmation of Gorsuch is "the right thing to do."
Though Merkley has said he will filibuster Trump's pick, Schumer is publicly staying on the fence and hasn't explicitly backed a filibuster.
But Schumer is defending his party's push for Gorsuch to get 60 votes, noting that previous Supreme Court nominees have been able to win bipartisan support.
"It was a bar met by each of President Obama's nominations," he said. "In my mind 60 votes is the appropriate way to go whether there is a Democratic president or a Republican president, a Democratic Senate or a Republican Senate."
The back-and-forth over Trump's nominee comes as the president endorsed going "nuclear" and lowering the requirement to a simple majority if Democrats block his nominee.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has repeatedly indicated that he does not want to take what would be a historic step and change Senate rules.
Schumer appeared to push against Trump on Wednesday, arguing that if Gorsuch can't get 60 votes, then the "problem" is with the president's pick.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Exactly. Even the Wikipedia page on the 2018 Senate race only now shows 12 of the 23 are safe, considering the 2014 voting index.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2018
Trumps sister sounds like a perfect NY liberal judge
Maybe he can nominate her to replace Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg
More Schumer tears
It’s not for Chuckie to decide this. And it would not be an historic step to use a simple majority to confirm.
Trumps sister sounds like a perfect NY liberal judge
Maybe he can nominate her to replace Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg
More Schumer tears
His sister is too old.
We’ll take the constitutional option, please.
Isn’t Collins the one that voted to take Obamacare out of committee? Or was it the other female traitor.
Gorsuch won’t be confirmed without going nuclear.
Dems want to push the Trump is Hitler narrative and forcing the rule change is the way to do that.
This Bolshevik revolution needs to be crushed!
Schumer is playing politics, GASP. Gorsuch will be confirmed.
The lying bastard is lying again................
I hope they fight it and lose the fillibuster.
Trump is motivated and then the cowards in Congress would have no choice but to do dramatic reform.
They could undo the last 70 years of communist nonsense in 90 days.
The Dems in general will go through the motions of trashing Gorsuch just on principle (i.e. what they deem to be principle), then let him in. It’s just sparring practice for the real battle, which will be for the Ginsburg replacement that will actually change the Court.
IMHO, he’s going to end up with 80 votes. If the dems filibuster this one, then the nuclear option will strip them of power in the future. I suspect a lot of dems will try to appear “reasonable” on this one and wait to go to war on the next one.
But then democrats are proving themselves to be as stupid as Republicans.
I predict Schumer will tell a select group of Democrats to vote for Gorsuch just so they can avoid the humiliation of fighting a losing battle, while sanctimoniously claiming that they held the GOP to the 60-vote requirement.
I’d really like to see a response like this from one or more GOP senators:
GOP Senators: Congratulations Gorsuch on Being Confirmed - The Certain Outcome Whether by 60 Votes or Less!
Schumer needs to get Gorsuch confirmed, because he NEEDS NEEDS NEEDS to preserve the filibuster for the Ginsburg seat.
I expect minimal resistance, and even a few speeches about how great Gorsuch is - showing how reasonable the Dems are “if the nominee is not a radical”.
If Schumer gives up the filibuster now, over Gorsuch, he can’t block Atilla the Hun replacing Ginsburg.
Rats ALWAYS get their nominees for USSC. Just look at the incompetence, lack of skill, weak intellect and record of being political as a judge of obola’s picks, yet Pubs voted for them as the President gets their pick unless they are completely off the chart.
But, when it comes to putting the shoe on the other foot, Rats NEVER reciprocate.
So, I see absolutely no loss to the Pubs for going nuclear, because if Rats get back in power, the Rats will always get there choice whether it is 51 or 60, whereas we don’t.
That would pretty much be the end of the filibuster for all nominations, forever. In turn that puts a huge premium on Senate control.
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