A Move Years in the Making, With Lasting Ramifications
By CARL HULSE, NYT
WASHINGTON — The curtailment of the filibuster, probably the most well-known aspect of the Senate in popular culture, came in a politically charged vote Thursday that had been years in the making. It will have significant ramifications for the Senate, as well as for President Obama and future presidents.
The decision represents a new curb on the Senate’s constitutional power of “advice and consent,” a power that Democrats said Republicans had been abusing in their determination to deny Mr. Obama his choices for the federal bench and high-level administration offices. Under the action precipitated by Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, opponents will no longer be able to require the majority to produce 60 votes to advance a judicial or executive branch nomination short of the Supreme Court.
“It’s time to get the Senate working again — not for the good of the current Democratic majority or some future Republican majority, but for the good of the country,” said Mr. Reid, who in the past had been reluctant to force through a rules change. “It is time to change the Senate, before this institution becomes obsolete.”
The Senate action means Democrats will be able to confirm three stalled nominees to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a victory for Democrats who wanted to alter the conservative makeup of the highly influential court. Other blocked administration choices such as Representative Melvin Watt for a housing regulatory agency also have a new route to approval. And some administration officials who had been reluctant to leave for fear that they would not be replaced can now step down if they choose.
(More here.)
WASHINGTON — The curtailment of the filibuster, probably the most well-known aspect of the Senate in popular culture, came in a politically charged vote Thursday that had been years in the making. It will have significant ramifications for the Senate, as well as for President Obama and future presidents.
The decision represents a new curb on the Senate’s constitutional power of “advice and consent,” a power that Democrats said Republicans had been abusing in their determination to deny Mr. Obama his choices for the federal bench and high-level administration offices. Under the action precipitated by Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, opponents will no longer be able to require the majority to produce 60 votes to advance a judicial or executive branch nomination short of the Supreme Court.
“It’s time to get the Senate working again — not for the good of the current Democratic majority or some future Republican majority, but for the good of the country,” said Mr. Reid, who in the past had been reluctant to force through a rules change. “It is time to change the Senate, before this institution becomes obsolete.”
The Senate action means Democrats will be able to confirm three stalled nominees to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a victory for Democrats who wanted to alter the conservative makeup of the highly influential court. Other blocked administration choices such as Representative Melvin Watt for a housing regulatory agency also have a new route to approval. And some administration officials who had been reluctant to leave for fear that they would not be replaced can now step down if they choose.
(More here.)
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