Senate Dems, powerless to stop Trump nominees, regret 'nuclear option' power play
CNN Digital Expansion DC Manu Raju
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By Manu Raju and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 3:40 PM ET, Mon December 5, 2016
(CNN)Senate Democrats are eager to make Donald Trump pay a political price for nominating staunch conservatives to fill out his Cabinet, hoping to exact revenge for the GOP's stubborn opposition to President Barack Obama's nominees.
But there is little they can do about it -- and some top Democrats are now coming to regret it.
That's because Senate Democrats muscled through an unprecedented rules change in 2013 to weaken the power of the minority party to filibuster Cabinet-level appointees and most judicial nominees, now setting the threshold at 51 votes -- rather than 60 -- to overcome tactics aimed at derailing nominations.
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http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/politics/senate-democrats-nuclear-option-donald-trump/index.html