Reid Weighs Senate Rules Change After Nominees Blocked
By James Rowley & Kathleen Hunter - Nov 20, 2013 11:43 AM ET .
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he’s weighing a change to the chamber’s rules on handling nominations after Republicans blocked three of President Barack Obama’s choices for a federal appeals court in the past month.
Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said he was “considering looking at the rules” to curb procedural moves that have been used by Republicans to thwart several of Obama’s recent judicial and executive-branch nominees. The vote may occur as soon as this week, according to a senior Democratic aide who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the timing.
“We need to do something to allow government to function,” Reid told reporters yesterday after a closed-door meeting of Senate Democrats. “It is incredible.”
Democratic support for procedural changes gained momentum this week after a third consecutive Obama nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Democrats control 55 of the chamber’s 100 seats.
Reid has vowed in the past to change rules so that a simple majority of 51 senators would be enough to proceed. Yesterday, he offered no specifics while saying that any revision would be limited to executive branch and lower-court nominations and wouldn’t apply to Supreme Court nominees or legislation.
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-20/reid-weighs-senate-rules-change-after-nominees-blocked.html
DO SOMETHING!
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