The Option: Round Two
Political Waves
Last November, Harry Reid had a chance to pull the trigger on the option but was persuaded that the Pubs would behave as good sports and honor agreements; they didn't. So now, he's gathered the votes to dial back the political contrivance of 60+ votes to end a filibuster ... NOT enshrined in the Constitution as a requirement ... which has been so badly overused by the House, particularly. This would entail "pulling the trigger" on the Nuclear Option, turning the vote back to 50 plus 1, as a lot of people were anxious for him to do in November, let alone July -- BUT this has now fallen by the wayside since Pubs have blinked and promised to let several appointee's through.
Case in point: Elizabeth Warren's proposed replacement as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray, was confirmed by Senate vote this morning, breaking a TWO YEAR FILIBUSTER! 17 Pubs supported for a 71 to 29 vote, and Warren made the announcement.
In order to get this agreement, some concessions were required, specifically a couple of candidates for the National Labor Relations Board which has been unable to function without leadership. These two nominees, too competent for the Pubs taste, have apparently been "thrown under the bus" in an effort to move forward.
Thom Hartmann explains:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had a closed-door meeting with the entire Senate last night. Lawmakers met for nearly four hours to resolve the stalemate over presidential nominees, but expressed a mix of opinions after that meeting. This morning, Senator Reid announced that lawmakers had reached a tentative deal to avoid a filibuster showdown. The plan requires GOP Senators allow votes on most of President Obama's nominees, in exchange for Democrats replacing two of the nominees for the National Labor Relations Board. Essentially, Republicans demanded that the President give up his constitutional right to make appointments, in order to get the GOP to agree to do their jobs. After agreeing to this so-called compromise this morning, lawmakers finally began the process of considering stalled confirmations. They started off by advancing the consideration of Richard Cordray, the nominee for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Later today, the full Senate will finally vote on Cordray's appointment, which Republicans have filibustered since 2011. Majority Leader Reid is expected to call for votes on several other controversial nominees, but it is uncertain if those votes will be blocked by the GOP. Senator Reid had previously pledged to employ the nuclear option, which would bar Republicans from blocking presidential appointments, if they continue to delay confirmations. However, it is unclear if he will keep that promise after giving in to Republican demands on two NLRB appointments earlier today. Many Americans around our nation are fed up with the GOP's refusal to confirm the President's nominees. They're watching this fight closely, and hoping that Majority Leader Harry Reid won't concede to more Republican demands just get these appointments confirmed...
We'll have to see how long this arrangement lasts. The 60 + vote rule is a fairly recent one, and we've seen what it's capable of doing. I'd just as soon see it go, frankly, and I'd also like to see those who want to filibuster a bill have to get up and actually do it! Jon Stewarts stand-in, John Oliver, did a nice bit on adult diapers over at Comedy Central.
Here's a few reads explaining this process, how it can both help and backfire. But ... gotta admit ... forward progress is refreshing, especially in consumer protections!
Jude
Senate averts ‘nuclear option,’ confirms Richard Cordray for consumer agency
William Douglas and Lindsay Wise, McClatchy Washington Bureau
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/16/196848/senate-averts-nuclear-option-confirms.html#emlnl=Daily_News_Update
WASHINGTON — The Senate averted a showdown
Tuesday over the fate of the filibuster as it confirmed President Barack Obama’s
choice to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and moved to consider
other key Obama administration nominees.
Under an eleventh-hour deal
brokered by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., senators
agreed to vote on Richard Cordray’s nomination to head the consumer bureau, a
move desired by Senate Democrats and the White House. Senators confirmed Cordray
on a 66-34 vote, with 12 Republicans and two independents voting with
Democrats.
In exchange for acting on Cordray, Democrats and the White
House agreed to withdraw two National Labor Relations Board nominees who were
recess appointments by Obama and replace them with new choices. Republicans
strongly opposed confirming Richard Griffin and Sharon Block for the board
because a federal court had ruled their recess appointments invalid.
Obama later nominated Kent Yoshiho Hirozawa, of New York, and Nancy Jean
Schiffer, of Maryland, to the board. Hirozawa is chief counsel to the board’s
chairman. Schiffer previously was associate general counsel to the AFL-CIO and
deputy general counsel to the United Auto Workers, the White House
said.
With Griffin and Block out and Cordray confirmed, senators will
move toward confirmation votes on several of Obama’s other nominees, including
Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Thomas Perez as the
secretary of labor and Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce for another term on the
National Labor Relations Board.
“It’s very significant. We’re showing
now, with that and the immigration bill, maybe we can show more momentum towards
bipartisanship,” McCain said. “I believe it can bring some momentum for further
cooperation.”
At the White House, Obama said he was pleased by the
Senate’s actions.
“Over the last two years, I’ve nominated leaders to
fill important positions required to do the work of the American people, only to
have those positions remained unfilled – not because the nominees were somehow
unqualified, but for purely political reasons,” he said. “I want to thank the
senators from both parties . . . who have worked together to find a path forward
and give these nominees the votes they deserve.”
A test vote on Cordray’s
nomination earlier in the day sailed through the Senate by 71-29, a seemingly
bipartisan love fest that belied days of acrimony over Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid’s threat to change the Senate’s filibuster rules if Cordray’s
nomination didn’t achieve the 60-vote threshold required to proceed to
confirmation.
“We are pleased that the majority decided not to exercise
the nuclear option,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “We
think that’s in the best interest of the institution.”
For days, Reid
implied that he’d pursue the so-called “nuclear option,” a complicated
multi-step maneuver to change Senate rules to make it more difficult for the
minority party to filibuster nonjudicial nominees and easier to confirm them by
simple majority votes.
The Nevada Democrat said the move was necessary
because of what he viewed as Republican obstruction of Obama’s nominees,
including unsuccessful filibusters of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and CIA
Director John Brennan. McConnell disputed Reid’s claim and argued that the
majority leader was pursuing an unprecedented power-grab, and he predicted that
Reid would go down as the worst Senate majority leader in history if he pursued
the option.
With Reid and McConnell at bitter odds, senators retreated to
the ornate old Senate chamber Monday night in a last-ditch effort to avert Reid
pulling the option trigger. Lawmakers emerged from a 3.5-hour meeting without a
deal, but they continued to talk afterward.
With the Cordray vote looming
Tuesday, Reid announced that a deal was at hand. After it was formally
announced, Reid said he’d follow the advice of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.,
whose time in the Senate and House of Representatives dovetails
Reid’s.
“Here’s the advice that she gave all of us a few minutes ago. . .
. ‘Colleagues, no gloating; maximum dignity.’ So that’s where I’m coming from,”
Reid said.
McCain, a member of the “Gang of Eight” senators, who authored
a comprehensive immigration bill that the Senate passed recently, called the
negotiations on the nuclear option “probably the hardest thing I’ve been
involved in.”
Not all senators shared McCain’s optimism about an outbreak
of bipartisanship blossoming from Tuesday’s deal.
“While this addresses
an immediate need for the president of the United States to have his Cabinet and
other senior officials confirmed,” said Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont
independent, “we should be clear that the agreement only addresses one symptom
of a seriously dysfunctional U.S. Senate.” ++
David Lightman, Lesley
Clark and Ali Watkins contributed to this article.
Was
the Filibuster Reformed Today?
Today's deal preserved the
existing filibuster rule, but changed it in important ways.
Markos
Moulitsas, Daily Kos via Alternet
July 16, 2013
http://www.alternet.org/was-filibuster-reformed-today
Jed Lewison:
In one sense, that means nothing has
changed—the filibuster is still every bit as intact as it was before the
confrontation began. At the same time, however, Democrats showed that they have
the ability to stop Republicans from using it by doing little more than telling
the GOP to choose between stopping their abuse of the filibuster or eliminating
it altogether.
That's about right. Look, I want the filibuster good
and dead. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wasn't going to give us that
anyway—today's showdown was supposed to be focused entirely on administration
nominees and only administration nominees. That would leave Republicans free to
continue obstructing on judicial appointments and legislation.
True,
today's deal preserved the existing filibuster rule, but it really didn't.
Democrats established that they could bust through any filibuster with a simple
majority anytime they wanted. Sure, it's still a process to do so, full of
blustery threats and hyperbolic doomsaying, but it's a process.
And best
of all, it won't be limited to just administration appointments. Republicans
have conceded that Democrats can change the filibuster rule at will, and they
clearly understand that the will to do so exists.
So Democrats can now
wield this against Republican obstructionism in legislation and judicial matters
as well.
Don't get your hopes too high—bullshit Senate "collegiality"
still means that Democrats will suffer way too much obstruction. And in matters
of legislation, some bipartisanship is necessary in the Senate for any bill to
have a prayer in the Republican-controlled House.
If we had this four years ago, for example, we'd have a far better health care law. But late is better than never. ++
The filibuster is dead. Long live the filibuster.
Jed Lewison for Daily Kos
Tue Jul 16, 2013
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/16/1224091/-The-filibuster-is-dead-Long-live-the-filibuster
In one sense, that means nothing has changed—the filibuster is still every bit as intact as it was before the confrontation began. At the same time, however, Democrats showed that they have the ability to stop Republicans from using it by doing little more than telling the GOP to choose between stopping their abuse of the filibuster or eliminating it altogether.
This battle was fought over presidential nominations, but the key thing is that virtually every Democratic senator has now taken the position that the filibuster can be eliminated by a majority vote. That's a big deal because if you can get rid of a super-majority requirement by simple majority vote, then the super-majority requirement is essentially optional.
In recent years, Republicans have treated the filibuster as if it were an irrevocable Constitutional right, and not a simple rule that can be changed. Today, Democrats—whether they realize it or not—have killed the GOP's interpretation of the filibuster as a perpetual, immovable feature of the Senate meant to be used on routine matters of business.
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
~ The Reverend Martin Luther King
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