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July 16th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The Senate headed Tuesday for a “nuclear” showdown over a rules change that could have far-reaching effects, making it easier for the majority party to curb filibusters and confirm presidential nominees.
Frustrated Democrats are looking for a way to approve some of President Barack Obama’s critical nominees but a controversial change in the rules would certainly inflame partisan rancor in the Senate. Votes on those nominees are scheduled to begin Tuesday morning and unless there is a deal struck between the two sides the process could stretch throughout the day.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid summed up Democrats’ position Monday, saying the Senate is “broken,” adding, “the problem today is that the president of the United States cannot get the people to work for him that he wants.”
Must-Read Op-Eds: Mika Brzezinski reads from Frank Bruni’s latest NYT column on the latest happenings in the Senate over Majority Leader Harry Reid threat to change filibuster rules over President Obama’s D.C. court nominees.
Following an unusual marathon meeting attended by almost all senators Monday night, lawmakers said that they had not reached an agreement to avert the showdown over rules governing the confirmation of executive branch nominees.
Tuesday morning at 11, the Senate is set to vote on ending debate on the nomination of Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If that vote is successful, up to eight hours of would follow on Cordray’s nomination.
“We’ve had a very good conversation, the conversation is going to continue tonight,” Reid said in a statement after a meeting that stretched more than three hours.
Senators discussed Reid’s move to change the rules so that a simple majority – not a 60-vote threshold – would be required for confirmation of executive branch nominees, a move that would require a procedural change known as the “nuclear option.”
Reid told reporters Monday that the series of votes on executive nominations that could precede a standoff are still scheduled for Tuesday morning.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the Monday night meeting that talks were still going on.
“A clear bipartisan majority in the meeting believed the Leaders ought to find a solution,” said spokesman Don Stewart. “And discussions will continue.”
Before entering the historic Old Senate Chamber for Monday’s meeting, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain told reporters that he planned to present an outline of a way to avert the showdown.
McCain said he was leading a group of 10 Republican senators who were willing to compromise. But a Democratic aide said that in advance of the joint caucus meeting, Reid objected to the outlines of McCain’s deal. Congressional sources from both parties said that the White House also rebuffed McCain’s proposal, which would have moved some of the seven nominees forward this week but potentially put action on the others off to another time.
The debate centers around seven nominees — including Cordray and members of the National Labor Relations Board — whom Republicans have blocked from getting a confirmation vote.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell has indicated GOP senators will not stand in the way of votes on Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental protection agency and Thomas Perez to be labor secretary.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell visits Meet the Press to offer his viewpoint on Harry Reid’s remarks on the Senate’s filibuster policy.
Instead, McConnell said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, the filibuster impasse now “comes down to three appointments that the federal courts have told us were unconstitutionally recess-appointed” by Obama on Jan 4. 2012. The three that McConnell referred to are Cordray and two of the NLRB nominees, Sharon Block and Richard Griffin.
Two federal appeals courts have ruled that the Block and Griffin appointments were invalid because the Senate was not in recess when Obama used his recess appointment power to place them on the NLRB. The Supreme Court will hear the NLRB recess appointments case this fall.
Reid asked, “What is Barack Obamas supposed to do? The NLRB goes out of business on Aug. 1; it’s gone, it’s over with” due to the lack of a quorum because the Senate hasn’t yet confirmed new board members.
If at least six Republican senators do not join the Democrats to reach the 60 votes needed to end debate on the nominations Tuesday, Reid has pledged to move to change the rules to curtail filibusters on executive branch nominations.
But that would fuel partisan animosity and could lead Republicans to retaliate by further slowing down legislation and perhaps judicial nominations.
When asked about further changes he might seek in the Senate cloture rule, which requires 60 votes to end debate on a nomination or a bill, Reid said Monday he had “no intent… zero” of changing the cloture rule on legislation or judicial nominations – only on executive branch nominations.
Asked what other changes he might like to see in order to make the Senate function more quickly, Reid said, “Nothing right now. But remember, the Senate is an evolving body” and that, depending on circumstances, the Senate might change its rules in the future.
Rule 22 of the Standing Rules of the Senate says that on a motion to amend the rules, “the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting,” or 67 senators if all of them vote.
And on Jan. 24, when the Senate voted to change Senate rules so as to accelerate the consideration of bills and amendments, the Senate voted by two-thirds to make that rules change.
But in the past, a few senators have contended that under the provision of the Constitution that says “each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings,” the Senate could at any given moment change its rules by a simple majority vote.
Kasie Hunt and Kelly O’Donnell contributed to this story.
This story was originally published on Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:22 AM EDT
Source Article from http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/16/19502641-senate-heads-toward-nuclear-showdown-on-filibuster-rules?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1
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