I’ve read several accounts of the meeting the Senate held last night to discuss rules changes on the filibuster, but the New York Times is the only source I’ve seen that reported an offer of capitulation by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
After the meeting, Mr. McConnell offered Democrats up-or-down votes on all seven contested nominations in exchange for a promise to drop the rule-change threat. Mr. Reid demanded a pledge not to filibuster future nominations. Both sides balked, according to aides familiar with the exchange.
The seven contested nominees included the Secretary of Labor, the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, three positions on the National Labor Relations Board, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the head of the Import-Export Bank. Far from confirming this offer from McConnell, Roll Call wrote this:
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said disputed appointments to the National Labor Relations Board remained the main sticking point.
“The two NLRB appointments are really, really difficult for Republicans who believe they were illegally made. And that comes back to an issue of the separation of powers, and whether or not we’re going to concede to the executive the power to decide when Congress is or is not in session,” Thune said. He was referencing temporary appointments that President Barack Obama made but which were declared unconstitutional by federal courts. Republicans have suggested that if Obama selected new NLRB picks, it might help alleviate the impasse.
As I understood it, it was this offer to capitulate on the other nominees if Obama would retract two of his three NLRB nominees that McCain brought to the table last night. Since the GOP hate machine is hyperventilating about the recess appointments, they don’t feel like they can just go ahead and confirm them as if there were no real problem with them in the first place. After all, the case is headed to the Supreme Court, and how would it look?
First up, will be Richard Cordray to head the CFPB. Here’s where the New York Times‘ reporting seemingly contradicts itself:
If Mr. Reid failed to get 60 votes, he could move to change the rules of the Senate immediately. If debate were cut off, it would postpone action until the Senate moved on to limit debate on three nominees to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.
Again, Republicans could simply let them go through, but Mr. McConnell has taken a firm stance on two of the nominees, Richard Griffin and Sharon Block. President Obama initially appointed them to the labor board without the Senate’s consent in a disputed “recess appointment,” a move struck down by a federal appeals court.
The nominees have been at the center of the fight, and Democrats point to either Mr. Griffin or Ms. Block as the nuclear trigger.
But a couple of paragraphs earlier, the same reporters said that McConnell had given in on all seven nominees and was only resisting making a promise not to filibuster future executive branch nominees.
In any case, after they swear in new Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts at 10 am, the excitement will begin.
Since the GOP hate machine is hyperventilating about the recess appointments, they don’t feel like they can just go ahead and confirm them as if there were no real problem with them in the first place. After all, the case is headed to the Supreme Court, and how would it look?
With some slightly competent media efforts, it could be made to look the Republicans forced that unscrupulous Kenyan to start over from the beginning and go through the nomination process for them all over again.
Offer that as your face-saving gesture, Harry: agree to pretend in public that having the NLRB nominees go through the ordinary nomination process represents a concession.
O.T., but Charles Pierce obviously has come to the Frog Pond on occasion.
OY!
McConnell’s ‘Lucy’ is still holding that football, sure that Reid’s ‘Good Old Charlie Brown,’ will kick it.
Harry, shoot, sh*t, or get off the pot!!!
And Reid will again wonder why syphilis is more popular than the Senate/House
The endless intellectual dishonesty of “conservatives”. Why exactly were the two Dem NLRB nominees recess-appointed in the first place? Because they were previously filibustered by Repubs for no reason other than that they were Dem nominees and would confer a Dem majority on the NLRB.
Can’t have that, elections (of Dem prezes) can’t have consequences.
Now the phony problem with the two Dem nominees and the latest Repub faux-outrage is they were “illegally appointed”, as though no prez ever made a recess appointment under the constitution before. And as though that fact has anything to do with their qualifications for the positions. And they certainly weren’t “illegal” before the decision of the (Repub controlled) DC Circuit which issued the dubious 2-1 Neoconfederate opinion…
Apparently senate Repubs want (hope?) Roberts Repubs to affirm the gutting of the executive recess appointment power and don’t want to moot the case by confirming these two. Are they starting to think they really never will have another Repub prez?
Another aspect to this NLRB drama is that if Roberts Repubs decide to gut the executive recess appointment power, it will mean that all the decisions issued by the NLRB during the tenure of these two Dem appointees will likely be vacated, which will make a few plutocrat CEOs happy.
And Repubs surely know that is the name of the game, Thune’s song and dance about “separation of powers” and “illegal” appointments notwithstanding. I’m sure he objected to Bushco’s recess appointments….
Ding. Lucy Reid does his owner’s bidding.
Huh?
How can you possibly spin this as anything but a win?
We will see how much of a win it really is. Agreements with the GOP rarely last longer than a few days.
When the two NLRB appointees are confirmed, it might be a partial win but only if the GOP shuts up about recess appointments.
Unless Reid is prepared to do this every single time.
And the rule change I would like to see is an elimination of announcement requirement for a cloture vote. Reid uncorked this Friday and nothing happened until today.
Going to “We’ll see” seems quite a bit more reasonable as a response.
Agreements with the GOP rarely last longer than a few days.
True, but agreements with the GOP are rarely backed up with a credible threat of consequences if they break the deal. The Democrats just demonstrated that they are willing to go nuclear if the Republicans abuse the filibuster rules. There is now a reason, other than their word, why the Republicans would keep this deal.
Unless Reid is prepared to do this every single time.
This is the new normal. Every discussion about blocked nominees now has this threat hanging over it.
Apparently there are more than a few Republican senators who have grown tired of McConnell’s “obstruct at all costs strategy” and were more than willing to deal. Pretty interesting that John McCain seems to be the new deal-maker on their side.
Dems got 90-95% of what they wanted, I’d call that a pretty good day.
Apparently there are more than a few Republican senators who have grown tired of McConnell’s “obstruct at all costs strategy” and were more than willing to deal.
Yeah, right. A bunch of Republicans discover they don’t support across the board obstructionism on the very day the Democrats announce they have the votes for the nuclear option if the Republicans don’t knock off the obstructionism.
That’s what I call a happy coincidence.
(Too cynical?)
If I had a senator I would pick them up and throw them at the wall in frustration.
Bloomberg News reports that the nuclear option won’t be used after all. What a surprise.
No, the surprise is that the Republicans caved.
That is a surprise! What’s the catch?
Relatively minor: the two recess-appointed NLRB members won’t get confirmed, but their replacements will get an up or down vote.