Never Have I Been Prouder of Harry Reid

     Well that wasn't so hard, was it? Yes, I'm kidding. 

      "Following a tentative deal to confirm a slew of presidential nominees to executive positions without the use of the "nuclear option," the U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Barack Obama's nomination to run the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

     "Sixty-six senators voted to confirm Richard Cordray's nomination, which was stalled under a lengthy Republican filibuster. Thirty-four senators opposed."

     "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who is credited with hatching the idea for the CFPB, presided over the vote."

   
     http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/senate-confirms-cordray-as-consumer-financial-protection-bureau?ref=fpb

     It only took a few years, and total brinksmanship via the nuclear option. Having said that I've never been prouder of Harry Reid and that's saying a lot.

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/07/harry-reid-to-gop-allow-vote-on.html

     A particular high water mark was his conversation with a 'Romney business partner' during the time Romney was refusing to provide his tax returns to the public.

      http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/07/romney-may-not-have-paid-taxes-for-10.html

       This is an even bigger nadir. I mean in particular the moment when McConnell offered to give him all 7 executive nominees if only he would promise not to do the nuclear option in the future and Reid said, nope. That was inspired.

       "It’s a remarkable move by Reid, who issued his threat to nuke the filibuster for executive branch nominations on the basis of whether the seven nominees would receive a vote. Three nominees would serve on the National Labor Relations Board and the rest would lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Labor Department, Environmental Protection Agency and Export-Import Bank. The primary lingering dispute is over the fate of two NLRB nominees whom President Obama appointed while Congress was in recess."

        http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/reid-rejects-mcconnell-offer-nuclear-option.php

        While this was a big win for Dems, as TPM notes, it's just a half step back towards normalcy. Under McConnell, the obstruction of the minority has reached truly astronomical levels. 

       "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) lost big in the filibuster battle that endedTuesday morning. Senators struck a tentative deal to confirm seven nominees to run federal agencies and departments, in exchange for Democrats agreeing not to nuke the filibuster on executive branch nominations — for now."

       "But McConnell is still winning the war. In his 6 1/2 year reign as Republican leader, the Kentuckian has so dramatically strengthened the minority’s muscle on routine matters that his concessions this week amount to little more than an half step back toward normalcy."

      http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/mcconnell-loses-filibuster-battle-but-winning-the-war.php?ref=fpa

     True, the filibuster for judicial nominees and normal legislation and the 60 vote Senate is still the norm. 

     "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Democrats proved this week they have the leverage to make sure a president’s nominees to executive positions can be confirmed with a 51-vote majority. But in conversations with TPM during recent weeks, pro-reform Democrats and progressives privately conceded that they lack the votes to scale back the minority’s veto power over judicial nominations or bills."

     "President Obama has faced more delays and obstruction on his judicial nominees than any of the last five presidents, according to a recent nonpartisan congressional report. Pro-reform sources say they lack the votes to put an end to filibusters of potential judges, in part because pro-choice Democrats fear that a future GOP president may fill the courts with conservative judges that they’d be powerless to stop from rolling back abortion rights."

     "When Reid was asked Tuesday afternoon about the fate of three pending nominees to the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, he was circumspect."

     "We’ll take those one at a time. We’re talking about executive nominees,” he said. “Those are going through the process but we’ll see. … I think there’s a good feeling in the Senate.”

      "And legislation can continue to be filibustered by Republicans as a matter of course — sometimes to be thwarted entirely (such as the DREAM Act of 2010 and gun control legislation of 2013) and sometimes to be used as leverage to extract concessions. That remains a huge redefinition of the Senate minority’s power that has reached unprecedented heights under McConnell, and which Democrats still have no answer to."

      "Under McConnell, the use of the filibuster — as measured by cloture motions by the majority leader, which are filed under threat of a filibuster — grew from roughly 70 per Congress to roughly 140 per Congress, according to the official Senate record. It eased to 115 in 2011-2010 after Republicans took control of the House."

      "Still, here's the point I'd make. They've at least shown they have leverage to stop the executive filibusters. And this whole episode may make some cooler heads in the GOP Senate-like McCain-think twice about just how much they want to abuse the filibuster going forwards even for judicial nominees and normal legislation. At least they now know that there are limits to how much Democrats will put up with."

    While they don't have the votes for other changes now, they might have it in the future. It's also possible they can invoke the nuclear option for executive nominees if there are too many of the other kinds of filibusters. 

     Senator Reid made a very crucial observation yesterday at a speech at the Center for American Progress:

     "Asked whether there were any other rules he would like to change, perhaps to allow legislation to pass with a simple majority vote, Reid said, “Nothing right now. But remember, the Senate is an evolving body.”

    http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/07/reid-ready-for-nuclear-option.html

    UPDATE: As Brian Beutler points out, it's not like McConnell wasn't warned. 

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/this_is_how_filibuster_reform_comes_back_to_life.php

         http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/07/dems_nuclear_option_victory_and_the_decline_of_the.php?ref=fpblg