Senate Republicans have enough votes to alter ‘nuclear option,’ shorten delay

Senate Republicans have loaded the nuclear option cannon and say they’ve got the ability to fire it — but are still debating when, or even if, they actually pull the trigger.

As President Trump complains about Democratic obstruction of his nominees, GOP leaders say they have enough votes to change the interpretation of the filibuster rules and shorten the amount of delay that can take place.

But senators said they are holding out hope that Democrats will agree to the rules change in a bipartisan fashion, negating the need to “go nuclear.”

Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican leading the push for the change, said he has approached Democrats, but none has been willing to publicly back his plans.

Some have said they envision backing the change in the future, but it would have to be starting in 2021, or after they believe they will have ousted Mr. Trump from office.

“Which, clearly, is not rational,” Mr. Lankford said. “This is a proposal that I would be comfortable with regardless of who is in the presidency.”

Mr. Lankford’s plan, which he wrote with Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt, would apply to lower-level administrative posts and district court judges. It would not apply to Cabinet-level positions nor to appeals court or Supreme Court picks.

It wouldn’t affect the number of votes needed to end a filibuster, which is now just a majority after Democrats’ “nuclear option” rules change in 2013. But it would reduce the time allowed for debate after a filibuster is defeated.

Under current rules, each nominee can be debated for up to 30 hours — and Democrats have frequently demanded all or most of that time be used, meaning that some weeks in the Senate are spent on nothing other than confirming four people to posts.

When Democrats controlled the Senate in 2013 they struck a deal with the GOP to cut the time limits for debate on President Barack Obama’s nominees. But that deal expired in 2015.

Democrats say Mr. Trump’s nominees have been uniquely bad, and they say it’s worth forcing the Senate to spend the extra time debating many of them.

This month Democrats attempted a filibuster of William Beach, nominated to be commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He was approved 55-44.

Republicans said they were stunned that they had to face a filibuster and then spend hours debating the labor statistics post.

Few Democrats publicly explained their opposition, but one who did, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, called Mr. Beach a tool of “radical right-wing billionaires.” She also said opposition to Mr. Beach was retaliation for Republicans refusing to back several Democratic nominees to bipartisan panels.

Before Mr. Beach, there was John Fleming, the deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, whose confirmation also required a 30-hour clock to tick.

“This process is being abused. Everybody knows it,” Mr. Blunt said on the chamber floor this month.

But triggering the nuclear option is controversial.

It involves using a shortcut to change the interpretation of Senate rules by a majority vote, rather than the two-thirds tally that is usually needed to rewrite the chamber’s rules, or a “standing order” rules change, which likely would take at least 60 votes to clear.

When Democrats used the nuclear option in 2013, it created bad feelings that linger today.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he has the votes among Republicans to pull the trigger, and Mr. Lankford agreed with that count. But they have set no deadline for themselves.

Democrats are particularly worried that Mr. Trump would be able to get more lower court judges approved more quickly.

During a recent press conference, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said he wouldn’t entertain working on a rules change until Republicans agreed to give home-state senators a veto over judicial picks from their state. That is known as the “blue slip” process.

“Restore the blue slips and then let’s talk about a compromise,” said Mr. Schumer, according to The Hill. “They can go nuclear and change the rules.”