Will the Senate Nuke Itself? Stay Tuned
The world's slowest nuclear detonation is unfolding on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Over the course of the day, seven presidential nominations are being debated and coming up for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has threatened to revoke the Senate's ability to filibuster if Senate Republicans do filibuster those votes—or at least some of them, apparently. According to Republicans, such a move (which only requires a majority vote) is a "nuclear option" that would devastate the upper chamber. This presumably is meant metaphorically.
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An unusual, late-evening private meeting of the full Senate last night didn't overtly resolve the dispute between the two political parties. A strong majority of the chamber's Democrats support amending the rules to allow for a filibuster-proof majority vote on executive nominations, should today's votes be unduly obstructed—a standard that is vague, at best. Every Republican opposes the rules change. At stake over the short-term are the seven appointments, which include:
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Richard Cordray, to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Gina McCarthy, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency
Thomas Perez, to lead the Department of Labor
Fred Hochberg, to lead the U.S. Export-Import Bank
Mark Gaston Pearce, Sharon Block, and Richard Griffin, to sit on the National Labor Relations Board
Block and Griffin sat on the NLRB until January of this year, when a court determined that their recess appointments violated the Constitution.
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Cordray is clearly the most controversial. (McCarthy and Perez are expected to have a filibuster-proof 60 votes of support.) The Huffington Post reports that his nomination will be the first considered, and could serve as a bellwether for the rest of the day. A canary at the nuclear site, to mix metaphors.
The first test of whether or not there is an agreement will come at about 11 a.m., when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) brings up the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The GOP has blocked any nominee to the agency since it was created, and although few senators object to Cordray personally, they have prevented his confirmation. …
[E]ven a decent number of Republicans seem to think the obstruction has gone too far, and will not balk at Cordray after lengthy private meeting of all senators Monday night, a Democratic aide said on background as negotiations continue. Six other nominees are also on deck, but if Republicans allow consideration of Cordray in the morning, debate will begin on his position for up to eight hours before the others come up.
If the Republicans filibuster Cordray, all bets are off, and the nuclear option goes into force. Probably. Our analysis suggested that a majority vote on the rules change would be close, and there's some question about whether or not Reid is bluffing. The worst case scenario for Reid is that the Republicans call that bluff and he doesn't have the votes.
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Stay tuned. We'll give you a heads up if you need to head for your fallout shelter.
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Photo: A test site near Las Vegas, 1952, or maybe Washington, DC, today. (AP)
