As we saw last night, there was a big test coming for just how meaningful the Senate filibuster agreement between Harry Reid and the small group of GOP Senators who brokered the deal at the last minute, avoiding the nuclear option.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-vote-for-atf-head-tonight-we-may.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiaryOfARepublicanHater+%28Diary+of+a+Republican+Hater%29
On tap was Obama's new nomination for head of the FBI, the picks to finally adequately staff the NLRB again-the GOP had deliberately left it understaffed after a federal court-inexplicably claimed that Obama's recess picks were unconstitutional-and finally a head for the ATF.
So is the deal going to mean anything or it back to-dysfunctional-business as usual? So 24 hours later we have an answer and clearly the agreement is being honored. Yes, you can credit the GOP Senators who are honoring it for doing so. According to Jonathan Bernstein 21 Republicans have voted for cloture on a nomination at least once since the deal.
http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-senate-deal-is-working.html
A number of these votes have been quite close though. As Bernstein notes, it's curious why these 21 GOP Senators are letting themselves take all the heat allowing the other 24 off the hook. Indeed, there's no actual need for cloture so someone in the GOP is still forcing cloture votes. On the FBI nomination, there was no cloture vote-it went through 93-1.
Then we had the NLRB nominees sail through:
"The Senate has voted to fill all five seats on the National Labor Relations Board. And it’s getting ready to consider President Barack Obama’s picks for top diplomatic and law enforcement posts as senators whittle down a pile of stalled nominations."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-vote-for-atf-head-tonight-we-may.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiaryOfARepublicanHater+%28Diary+of+a+Republican+Hater%29
On tap was Obama's new nomination for head of the FBI, the picks to finally adequately staff the NLRB again-the GOP had deliberately left it understaffed after a federal court-inexplicably claimed that Obama's recess picks were unconstitutional-and finally a head for the ATF.
So is the deal going to mean anything or it back to-dysfunctional-business as usual? So 24 hours later we have an answer and clearly the agreement is being honored. Yes, you can credit the GOP Senators who are honoring it for doing so. According to Jonathan Bernstein 21 Republicans have voted for cloture on a nomination at least once since the deal.
http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-senate-deal-is-working.html
A number of these votes have been quite close though. As Bernstein notes, it's curious why these 21 GOP Senators are letting themselves take all the heat allowing the other 24 off the hook. Indeed, there's no actual need for cloture so someone in the GOP is still forcing cloture votes. On the FBI nomination, there was no cloture vote-it went through 93-1.
Then we had the NLRB nominees sail through:
"The Senate has voted to fill all five seats on the National Labor Relations Board. And it’s getting ready to consider President Barack Obama’s picks for top diplomatic and law enforcement posts as senators whittle down a pile of stalled nominations."
"Senators used a near party-line vote Tuesday to confirm Democrat Kent Hirozawa to the NLRB, which helps resolve labor disputes. It then approved four more NLRB nominees, two Democrats and two Republicans."
"Tuesday’s votes covered the last of the seven nominees that were part of a bipartisan deal earlier this month in which some Republicans agreed to end stalling tactics."
"Starting Wednesday, the Senate will consider B. Todd Jones to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Samantha Power to be U.N. ambassador."
As TPM notes, these were all covered in the original this. However, Jones was no in the agreement. So he offers a good first test to see if this really is going to lead to a sea change or we're back to (no) business as usual due to obstruction. What is very interesting is that the big gun lobby groups-thanks to their machinations the ATF hasn't confirmed an ATF head since 2006-leaving it with only Acting directors-have dropped their opposition to Jones today.
"The National Shooting Sports Foundation has written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) backing the confirmation of B. Todd Jones to be director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives."
"In the letter, Lawrence Keane, the NSSF’s general counsel, writes that the organization has been at odds with Jones during his two-year tenure as acting ATF director but supports the effort to place him in the position permanently."
“While we have at times strongly disagreed with the policy and regulatory positions and interpretations ATF has taken during Mr. Jones’ tenure as acting director, we have never found Mr. Jones himself to be disagreeable,” Keane writes in the letter, which is dated Wednesday.
"Jones has served as the ATF's acting director since 2011. Obama nominated him to be the permanent director in January as part of his response to the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn."
Yes, Chuck Grassley vows to hold up his nomination:
"Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has vowed to delay Jones’s confirmation vote until an investigation into whistleblower complaints from his tenure as the U.S. attorney for Minnesota. The Senate has not confirmed an ATF director since the position became confirmable in 2006."
Yet how about this: the NRA is not going to oppose him:
"The National Rifle Association confirmed Tuesday that it would remain neutral in the confirmation of Todd Jones to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, giving Jones a big boost in winning Senate approval, according to the San Francisco Chronicle."
"It is unclear why the NRA, a long time foe of the ATF, is not opposing Jones, although the powerful gun lobby's director of public affairs confirmed that the organization would neither support nor fight the nomination."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/in-surprise-move-nra-remains-neutral-on-nomination?ref=fpa
My guess is that the Senate GOP has asked it to stand down-during the fiscal cliff deal Norquist accepted the tax hike on the top marginal rate. Yes, we must be cautious. Still these are hopeful signs that we are entering an ear of perhaps less brinkmanship at least on some routine matters.
Yet how about this: the NRA is not going to oppose him:
"The National Rifle Association confirmed Tuesday that it would remain neutral in the confirmation of Todd Jones to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, giving Jones a big boost in winning Senate approval, according to the San Francisco Chronicle."
"It is unclear why the NRA, a long time foe of the ATF, is not opposing Jones, although the powerful gun lobby's director of public affairs confirmed that the organization would neither support nor fight the nomination."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/in-surprise-move-nra-remains-neutral-on-nomination?ref=fpa
My guess is that the Senate GOP has asked it to stand down-during the fiscal cliff deal Norquist accepted the tax hike on the top marginal rate. Yes, we must be cautious. Still these are hopeful signs that we are entering an ear of perhaps less brinkmanship at least on some routine matters.
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