Senate Democrats Set for Decisive Meeting on ‘Nuclear Option’
Senate Democrats will huddle Thursday to determine whether to trigger the “nuclear option” to ram through nominees with a simple majority vote.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Tuesday that he planned to meet with his colleagues in two days, at which point a decision will be made on whether to change the upper chamber’s filibuster rules with the controversial tactic.
“I’m going to caucus on this Thursday, and I think Thursday by the time the day is out, you’ll have a better idea of what we’re going to try and do on this,” he told reporters.
Reid is facing pressure to advance several stalled nominees by making a Senate rule change that would eliminate filibusters on nominees. Typically, a change to Senate rules requires 67 votes, but the parliamentary maneuvering of the nuclear option would require only a majority vote.
Thursday’s meeting will be Reid’s final chance to determine how badly his colleagues want to push several stalled presidential nominees, including Tom Perez, President Obama’s pick to head the Labor Department, and Richard Cordray, who was renominated to continue as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
