Moments ago the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate deployed the “nuclear option,” ending minority filibusters on judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level. Nominees will now proceed forward on majority vote, despite warnings from Democrats in the past that such a move would make politics more bitter.
Several vulnerable Democratic senators voted to sustain the filibuster rules, including Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Mary Landrieu (D-LA) voted for the nuclear option. That’s sure to come up in the lengthy case against her re-election next year. Her likely Republican opponent is Dr. Bill Cassidy.
There will be a price for today’s act after the 2014 mid-terms. The precedent set may end up tearing down President Obama’s signature policy failure.
So, repealing whatever’s left of Obamacare in January 2017 will take 218 GOP House members, 51 GOP senators, and a GOP president.
— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) November 21, 2013
Senate implementing #nuclearoption could markedly diminish cooperating at getting deal on farm bill, budget agreement, et al.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 21, 2013
Sen @OrrinHatch slams rule change calling it ‘a crisis concocted by the Dem majority to distract attention from the Obamacare disaster.’
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 21, 2013
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