Nope, the 53 only count on the Floor Vote. One guy on the Committee can hold off the floor Vote, which is what Flake is doing. You will never see a Rat on the Committee Vote for any of POTUS Trump’ Nominees.
If any traitorous GOP bastard votes no in Committee, we have a problem.
The US Constitution, Section 5, clause 1, stipulates that only “a Majority of each [chamber] shall constitute a Quorum to do Business”.
Why not forget the committee.
This could be a godsend if the following things result from this:
If it spurs the following changing of the rules of the Senate: (It would have to be next congress)
a. The majority leader could call up a floor vote for anything for which a vote was taken in the Committee (in this case it could be Judiciary but I would extend it to other Committees). This eliminates a rogue Senator holding up appointments.
b. Change the debate time on the Senate floor for various levels. Cabinet heads and Supreme Court justices - 20 hours. There could be categories of people requiring 8 hours and some requiring 4 hours and others requiring 2 hours. The time is to be split 1/2 Rs and 1/2 Ds. The majority gets to go last . One side can choose to limit its remarks and choose to not use its full allotted time. The use of time of course can be waived by mutual consent of the majority and minority leaders. (I am fine with unanimous consent).
c. Eliminate the mandatory day(s) between the judiciary committee vote and the floor vote.
d. Eliminate the cloture vote for any votes that require a just a majority (or 50+VP) to pass. That is a duplicative vote and a waste of time.
e. If there remains a requirement to pass a Committee vote before being voted on then change the composition of the Committee to have a +2 majority. This eliminates a rogue Senator.
I have no idea why McConnell will not remove Flake from the Committee and replace him with another Senator (my suggestion would be Kyle). Perhaps there are rules that are in place that does not make this practical.