Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The new "compromise caucus" of GOP Senators who reached an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a couple of weeks ago to end the Senate filibusters of executive department nominees has withstood its toughest test: President Obama's nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which Republicans have been trying to neuter for years.
As Vice President Joe Biden would say, "This is a big effin' deal!" It means there may now be a new governing majority in the Senate. The Septegenarian Ninja Turtle Mitch McConnell no longer has an iron grip on the Senate for his scorched earth policy of total obstruction.
The Washington Post reports, No-nukes deal in Senate holds:
Guess we can climb out of the fallout shelter now?
As part of the deal struck earlier this month by Senate Republicans and Democrats to stave off the “nuclear” option, the Senate on Tuesday approved all five pending nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.
The slate included the two new nominees — AFL-CIO attorney Nancy Schiffer and NLRB counsel Kent Hirozawa — who replaced President Obama’s more controversial original picks, as well as the current NLRB chairman, Mark Pearce, and two Republicans, Los Angeles attorney Harry Johnson and Chicago attorney Philip Miscimarra.
[Update: The NRLB will have no vacancies for the first time in over a decade.]
Under the Senate no-nukes deal, in order to move his executive nominations, Obama withdrew the two NLRB nominees whose recess appointments last year are now under Supreme Court review and replaced them with Shiffer and Hirozawa.
The Senate’s on a bit of a roll approving White House nominees: On Monday, the chamber approved James Comey to head the FBI, and it is expected to soon clear the nomination of Samantha Power to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Although there’s no nuclear fallout in the air, things could get testy when the Senate this week also takes up the nomination of B. Todd Jones, Obama’s pick to be the first permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in seven years.
Or maybe not. In Surprise Move, NRA Remains Neutral On Nomination Of ATF Director:
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.
Jones is the current acting director of ATF--a post he has held since September 2011. He also serves at the United States Attorney for Minnesota.
This is also a "big effin' deal!" The NRA has blocked an ATF chief for years.
The Senate dysfunction may return with judicial nominees, who are not part of the "no nukes" agreement that Harry Reid reached with the new "compromise caucus" of the GOP. The Next Filibuster Face-Off: Obama's Judicial Nominees:
Senate Democrats are poised to kick off the next big nuclear test on Thursday with a committee vote on one of President Obama’s nominees to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, putting themselves on a collision course with Republicans over the filibuster.
The Judiciary Committee is poised to vote on the confirmation of Patricia Millett, who faced a hearing earlier this month. Given the Democratic majority on the panel, she’s expected to be approved. Republicans didn’t challenge her qualifications but held to their position that none of the three vacancies on the influential court ought to be filled.
Another Obama nominee to the court, Cornelia Pillard, also faced a hearing this month. Conservatives have labeled her extreme over her efforts to advance women’s equality. A hearing for the third nominee, Robert Wilkins, isn’t expected before the August recess. Senior Republicans are foreshadowing a mass filibuster of all three nominees.
“They’re the most qualified men and women who’ve come up, and I cannot think of any reason why such qualified men and women should be turned down,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told TPM on Tuesday. “So if they’re blocked you should be asking the Republicans because they’re the most qualified people in years — and far more qualified than the ones that the Republicans supported.”
That puts the two parties on a path to yet another confrontation over filibuster rules and the appropriate use of minority power.
* * *
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made clear after the last filibuster showdown — over executive branch nominees, which ended with Republicans folding — that he retains his right to go nuclear in the future if the GOP abuses the blocking tool.
The D.C. Circuit is often regarded as the country’s second most powerful court because it often has the final word over executive power decisions. It currently has eight active judges — four of whom were appointed by Democrats and four by Republicans. But it has six senior judges who also regularly hear cases, five of whom were appointed by GOP presidents. The court has invalidated numerous executive decisions by Obama on issues ranging from labor and environmental regulations to recess appointments.
The court is also a feeder to the Supreme Court, making the fight more politically volatile. Four out of nine sitting justices were plucked from the D.C. Circuit: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
As has been the case so far, detente is likelier than a proverbial mushroom cloud. In some ways the battle is tougher for both sides than the clash over executive nominees.
* * *
Come what may, the fight isn’t likely to play out until members of Congress return to Washington in September. And one thing Democrats have going for them is that numerous rank-and-file Republican senators are fed up with their years-long strategy of obstructing Democratic initiatives as a matter of course. At least one Republican, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), is on record saying the three nominees shouldn’t be filibustered.
“I think the objections [to the nominees] are completely unjustifiable,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told TPM on Tuesday. “But I’m very hopeful that a new spirit is gaining traction.”
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