Just pull the trigger already
by David Atkins
Harry Reid is still looking for a compromise:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) didn’t reach a deal on averting the “nuclear option” to change Senate filibuster rules after a meeting on Monday afternoon.
But they are negotiating a possible compromise ahead of a meeting of all 100 senators in the old Senate chamber at 6 p.m. on Monday night. The situation is expected to reach a boil as early as Tuesday morning when Reid is expected to force a vote on seven stalled presidential nominees.
Any deal would involve enough Republicans agreeing to an up-or-down vote on most — if not all — the seven stalled nominees on the Senate floor.
Why compromise? What is there to protect?
The Senate is terribly afraid of eliminating the filibuster on executive nominees because it might lead to changes to the filibuster for judicial nominees, which might lead to changes on the filibuster for actual bills. This is apparently a huge problem in a Senate that came within a inch of forcing talking filibusters on actual legislation.
To stop this slippery slope, the Senate is looking to a compromise on some of these particular executive picks, leaving the option open for the GOP to block future executive picks. Why?
Pull the trigger already. All appointments and laws should be subject to a talking filibuster only. Most objective analysts know it. The Senate is broken. It's time to fix it.
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