Posted on 04/03/2019 1:15:59 PM PDT by jazusamo
Senate Republicans deployed the nuclear option on Wednesday to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to confirm hundreds of President Trumps nominees.
Senators voted 51-48 to change the rules for the amount of time it takes to confirm most executive nominations with only a simple majority of the chamber. GOP Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Susan Collins (Maine) joined with Democrats in opposing the rules change.
Republicans are expected to trigger the nuclear option for a second time later Wednesday to force through the same change for district court nominations.
The combined actions will result in most nominations that require Senate confirmation needing only two hours of debate after theyve defeated a filibuster that shows they have the votes to ultimately be confirmed. Before Wednesdays rules change they faced up to an additional 30 hours of debate.
Supreme Court picks, appeals court judges and Cabinet nominees will not be affected by the rules change and will still face the lengthier Senate floor debate.
But the move will let Republicans hit the gas on confirming nominations, a top priority in an era of divided government that has left lawmakers without big-ticket legislative agenda items.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argued shortly before triggering the hardball procedural tactic that the Senate needed to go back to a more normal and reasonable process for confirming nominations.
Our colleagues across the aisle have chosen to endlessly relitigate the 2016 election rather than actually participate in governing, McConnell added. This problem goes deeper than today. Were talking about the future of this very institution and the future functioning of our constitutional government.
Republicans have set a record for the number of appeals judges confirmed during an administrations first two years, but theyve accused Democrats of using the chambers legislative rulebook to slow down lower-level executive and judicial nominations.
Of 715 key positions tracked by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, 435 have been confirmed by the Senate. An additional 131 are awaiting confirmation, 12 need to be formally nominated and 140 positions still need nominations.
And, according to the same tracker, some departments still have substantial vacancies in their Senate-confirmed positions.
The Interior Department, for example, has 41 percent of its Senate-confirmed employees in place, the Justice Department has 48 percent and the Department of Labor has 50 percent.
Its the second time Republicans have gone nuclear to make it easier to confirm Trumps nominees in as many years. In 2017, Republicans nixed the 60-vote filibuster on Supreme Court nominees, mirroring the action Democrats took in 2013 on lower-court and executive nominees.
Republicans made a last-ditch effort on Tuesday to pass the rules change as a standing order, which would have required 60 votes. But Democrats and Lee voted against the resolution, preventing it from getting the necessary support to pass.
The resolution was widely expected to fail the earlier test vote but was aimed at assuaging concerns from within the GOP caucus about moving forward with the nuclear option without at least trying to pass it with Democrats. The caucus held a meeting on Tuesday evening to walk through the plan for Wednesday.
I think we had to convince 51, at least 51, of our members that were doing everything possible to try to do this through regular order, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) about the point of Tuesdays vote.
Republicans say they reached out to try to negotiate an agreement with Democrats to try to reach a deal to avoid Wednesdays floor drama but found little interest. Sources familiar with the negotiations told The Hill last week that Democrats have tried to negotiate a deal with McConnell, with suggested changes such as postponing the rules change until 2021, applying it only to executive nominees or restoring the blue slip for circuit court picks but were unable to reach an agreement.
Democrats are bristling over Republicans decision to invoke the nuclear option, arguing that they cant simultaneously complain about the pace of nominations while setting a record for some court nominees.
A similar resolution passed the Senate in 2013 that cut debate time for most executive nominations to eight hours and district judges to two hours. But that resolution, which passed with bipartisan support, only controlled the 113th Congress.
Democrats argue that the dynamic around nominations has changed dramatically since then. Democrats nixed the 60-vote filibuster in 2013 for most nominations and Republicans followed suite in 2017 on Supreme Court nominations.
Republicans have also moved circuit nominations over the objections of home-state senators.
The way my colleagues on the other side talk about the issue, youd think Democrats delayed every nominee for as long as possible. That just doesnt remotely resemble the truth, said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
That was Governor Paul LePage, elected in Nov. 2010 and re-elected in Nov. 2014. Gov. LePage actually did much better than expected in the more liberal First Congressional District in 2014.
LePage was actually the most conservative governot in the U.S. when he was in office, and he spoke his mind. He was even more outspoken than President Trump.
Gov. LePage has moved to Florida, but will live in northern Maine during the warm weather months.
LePage has already said he will run again in 2022. A governor in Maine can serve more than two terms, but after the second term, the third term can not be consecutive.
Look, she used to bother me all the time. I cut her some slack now...she is from a fairly liberal state, so she needs to show she is bipartisan and not a shill. Her speech about the Kavanaugh confirmation vote was brilliant. I generally don’t like her mannerisms or the way she speaks, but that no longer bothers me, either. That speech showed she really thoroughly considered both sides of the vote, took it seriously, did her homework and actually decided based on fact and not on emotion or the threats she and her staff received. Plus with two more republicans in the Senate, her vote is less important - a bit less important.
Nuke the bastards, 24/7.
She’s a top scalp being sought by the Left after sticking her neck out to get Kavanaugh through. I’m just glad I’m not in Maine to have to make that decision...but at least in 2020 you can think of at least one reason to vote for her...might be the only one, but at least it is something.
They'll just Scalia all the judges.
Given the 51-48 vote it is apparent the votes did not exist until now...and certainly not last year. Odd that the holdout was not Murkowski, but Mike Lee.
The thing about her is that she doesn’t claim to be a conservative. I don’t like it, but I respect the honesty. She freely admits she is not and presents herself honestly...unlike some others who claim to be conservatives for votes but are not.
Good point. I had not thought of that.
How silly. I’m glad you’re not the leader. Lee votes with the Rs almost all the time. Collins is her own boss, comes from a liberal state and comes through sometimes - Kavanaugh. She votes for most but not all judges, which is better than if she is a democrat, which would mean never.
If you were in MS or AL, I could agree with you. Get the most conservative candidate who can win the state. In your case, that's Susan and be happy with that. Your state will do no better. She did vote for Kavanaugh.
Case in point. After Snowe resigned, your state elected King. Before that the odious Mitchell and Muskie. I'll take Susan any day over those.
Why do you think that?
The Supremes will never rule on any Senate procedure. The Constitution allows each body to make their own rules and the SC would never intervene and has never intervened when given the opportunity.
I believe the Democrats have put themselves so far to the left of the center that they are legitimately viewed by at least half of the country as in fundamental conflict with the foundational principles of our nation.
As Trump succeeds in rebuilding the spirit of the US as a nation that preserves and nurtures freedom, the dignity of all people, personal responsibility, and religion as basic to our health, the Democrats, in their vile opposition, will continue to alienate themselves from decent people.
We are on the cusp of that happening and the democrats for their part are doubling down on stupidity, arrogance, and hatred.
That’s why.
Yes... But Mike Lee is a serious disappointment. The pos never Trumper needs to be voted out of office.
The Democrats and their wholly-owned subsidiaries in the media have been complaining that McConnell somehow threw out “233 years of Senate history” with this move. Of course, they neglect to mention that filibusters of judicial nominees were almost unheard of for the first 200 or so of those years.
I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to vote for Collins in 2020....I said “We’ll see.”
In my posts in the past, I mentioned Collins voted for Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and the Trump tax cuts. A democrat would have voted “no” on all three.
If the Collins race is close, I’ll vote for her in order to help the Republicans keep the Senate and to help the president.
Susan Rice is going to run as a Democrat....I didn’t even know she lived in Maine. She must be a summer part-time resident. This is news to me, and I’ve been here 27 years.
In 2014, Collins was polling between 60% - 70%. She didn’t need my vote, so I did a write in.
Muskie was before my time...I lived in California for 17 years, and voted GOP while there.
I sent letters to George Mitchell when he was a senator and it was when he was saying the Second Amendment was for “sporting purposes.” I told him that the purpose of the Second Amendment was to give the people a means to fight a tyrannical government. And then I added, “As a former federal judge and as a senator, you should know that.”
Now Mitchell is a consultant in DC, has a young wife and young kids, and an oceanfront home in Seal Harbor, Maine. How nice.
I certainly didn’t “lose” the House in November. You can thank the media, Mueller, and the 45 GOP incumbents who declined to run for re-election for that outcome, as well as dem tricks like ballot harvesting.
I voted for Maine 2nd District GOP incumbent Bruce Poliquin.
He lost, even though he received 2,500 more votes than Jared Golden, the dem challenger.
That was due to “rank choice voting,” which was passed in a statewide vote by dems in the liberal First Congressional District. The Second District people did not want it. Neither the GOP incumbent nor the dem challenger received 50% of the vote, so they had to count the second choice pick of the voters.
William Hoar and Tiffany Bond were the two minor candidates, but were lefties pretending to be Republicans, and their presence in the race tipped the election to the dem, even though he received fewer votes. Tiffany Bond lives in the First District, which is outrageous.
The Second District....80% of the state....is far more conservative than the more heavily populated First Congressional District....the Portland area.
Because the First Congressional District is more populated, they screw up statewide votes often.
Candidate Trump carried the Second District by 10 points. He and his family made many trips here. Maine splits it’s electoral votes.
Constitutional Carry passed here three and a half years ago....many democrats actually voted for it.
Snowe didn’t resign....she chose not to run for re-election.
I didn’t vote for Angus King, but he was elected Senator because of name recognition....he is a former governor....and because of the far more populated...and far more liberal....First Congressional district. There are a lot of liberals there.
I met Olympia Snowe and her husband in a supermarket aisle here in Maine on Friday, August 27th, 2010. I had a twenty minute conversation her and her husband, Former Maine governor John “Jock” McKernann.
They were both pleasant. At the time, VERY conservative Paul LePage was running for governor for the first time, and Olympia Snowe made it clear to me that she supported his candidacy.
We talked about the upcoming 2012 presidential race. I crossed my fingers, held them in front of Snowe’s face and said, “I hope Sarah Palin runs!” She smiled at me...with a nervous look on her face, and nodded her head.
I surprised that Lee voted with the dems but Romney voted with the GOP.
Yay! PDJT hits my high notes every week!
Building the wall while re-building our hijacked courts! MAGA! :)
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