The nuclear option on filibusters is nearing

Sounds like next week will be the one to watch in the Senate on Presidential nominations and filibuster reform.  First of all, Mitch McConnell is strident in saying that the Dems shouldn't do it, which means that he's getting scared to dickens that they're going to.

Mitch McConnell:  Democrats manufacturing nomination crisis

Are you kidding me, Mitch?  You can actually say the following without blinking at its mendaciousness?

“We see the other side cooking up phony nomination fights because they want to go nuclear,” McConnell said Tuesday. “They know their core argument — that President Obama’s nominees are being treated less fairly than those of Bush — is essentially at odds with reality.”

But fortunately, I think the Dems are going to call Itchy Mitchy's bluff.  

Reid flirts with nuclear option despite GOP shutdown threat

"The decision on whether to proceed with the controversial tactic depends on how votes on stalled nominees play out next week. If Republicans allow several of them to proceed with up-or-down votes, Democrats might have less rhetorical ammo to force a rules change."

So, will the Republicans allow enough votes on nominees to forestall the pushing of the nuclear button?  A lot of me hopes that they don't.

Now, in case you don't want to click on the link, here's the meat of what may or may not happen, and why.

"The nuclear option, so dubbed because it could cause a meltdown in bipartisan relations, entails changing the Senate’s precedents with a simple majority vote sustaining or overturning a ruling of the chair.

Reid signaled to Republicans Thursday morning that he would use it if they continue to filibuster Obama’s nominees.

He disputed Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) argument that he had promised in a colloquy earlier this year not to use the nuclear option after the Senate reached an agreement to streamline business.


Reid has since panned that deal as a failure.

“One look at the Senate’s executive calendar shows that fundamentally nothing has changed since Sen. McConnell and I entered in our supposed agreement,” he said.

Reid noted there are 15 executive branch nominees ready to be confirmed after waiting “more than 260 days,” he said."

You can't run a government effectively like that, and the Repubs know it, which is why they're doing it.  So they need to be slapped.   The time for waiting is over.