http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/gop-senate-filibuster-113308.htmlGOP senators were outraged at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for invoking the “nuclear option” last year, calling his push to weaken the filibuster on presidential nominees a destructive and heavy-handed move with far-reaching consequences.
But now that Republicans are about to take control of the Senate, they seem unlikely to reverse it.
As they begin to plan their opening steps in the new majority, a growing number of Republican senators are expressing deep reservations about changing Senate rules back to the old system in which 60 votes were needed to overcome filibusters on presidential nominees. Instead, a number of senior GOP senators like Orrin Hatch of Utah and even junior Republicans like Ted Cruz of Texas are signaling privately and publicly that they want to stay at the 50-vote threshold set by Reid’s Democratic Senate majority.
How Republicans resolve the issue will have major consequences for President Barack Obama’s Cabinet and judicial nominees, with a defense secretary and attorney general slated for confirmation votes in the next Congress along with scores of federal judges. The closed-door GOP debate over the potent delaying tactic is scheduled to take place Tuesday with the new Republican freshman class.
Behind the scenes, the debate has been intensifying for days. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the incoming majority leader who has not publicly taken a position on the matter, has been making the argument privately that it’s long been historical precedent that a simple majority of senators — not 60 — have been able to confirm presidential nominees, according to several senators.
Others have been more forceful, saying it makes little sense to engage in a messy fight over the filibuster rules when Democrats may lower the threshold again should they take the majority in 2016 or beyond. Now that the Democrats have changed the rules, future Republican presidents, too, should benefit from a weaker filibuster, several GOP senators said Wednesday.
The change that Democrats made was “long-term and permanent,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of his party’s leadership.
“I think it’s well within the traditions of the Senate for a majority to decide nominations and a supermajority to decide legislation,” Blunt said.
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