It's Time For The Senate "Nuclear Option"

It was just a few weeks ago that the Republicans were filibustering every nominee of President Obama -- not because there was any real objection to most nominees, but just because they wanted to damage the president (or force him to go along with at least some of their failed and mean-spirited agenda). Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) then threatened to use the so-called "nuclear option" (change Senate rules to allow the president's judicial and executive nominees to bypass a filibuster, and be approved by a 51 vote majority).

The Senate had an emergency meeting of all senators, and the Republicans backed down. They promised to allow a vote on presidential judicial and executive nominees, if Reid abandoned his plan to invoke the "nuclear option". And for a short time, they honored that promise -- allowing votes on several presidential nominees.

But, as Republicans have demonstrated numerous times in the past, keeping their word is not really a Republican value. And now, only weeks later, they have broken the promise they made. There are several vaccines on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and so far, the president has nominated four candidates to fill those vacancies (Pattie Millett, Nina Pillard, Caitlin Halligan, and Robert Wilkins). All four of these nominees have been filibustered by the Republicans -- and the Republicans say they will filibuster anyone the president nominates for that court, regardless of who it is.

The court is currently dominated by right-wing justices, and the GOP is afraid the Obama nominees would have a moderating influence on that court. They ignore the fact that when Republican presidents were loading the court with those right-wingers, the Democrats allowed a vote on every one of them. They think that only white Republican presidents have the right to nominate justices for that important court, and would deny President Obama his constitutional right to fill vacancies on that court (or at least allow his nominees to get a confirmation vote).

This is outrageous. The Republicans are trying to impose their failed right-wing agenda through misuse of the filibuster -- an agenda that the people soundly rejected in the last election. It is time for Majority Leader Reid and the Senate Democrats to finally use the "nuclear option", since the Republicans have shown their word is no good.

Reid is currently talking to his Democratic cohorts to make sure he has the votes to pull this off. So far, a few Democrats are balking (like Carl Levin of Michigan). They say if the Democrats use this option, then the Republicans will do the same when they get in the majority. That's a ludicrous argument -- and shows they haven't been paying attention to what has been going on in Congress since the election of President Obama. The Republicans have pulled every dirty trick in the book to obstruct everything the president (and the Democrats) have tried to do -- and anyone who thinks the GOP won't use this option if they get in the majority is just not living in the real world.

The Democrats showed they had some backbone during the government shutdown, and stood firm until the GOP caved. Have they now put those backbones back in the closet? Are they too gutless to play the same kind of political hardball the Republicans have engaged in for the last five years? We'll know in a few days.

Personally, I think they need to put those backbones to good use again -- and support the president's nominees, even if it means using the "nuclear option".

UPDATE --  This morning (Thursday) Senate Democrats invoked the "nuclear option". Now it will only take 51 votes to end a filibuster of most executive and judicial nominees (while stopping a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee or legislation will continue to require 60 votes). Congratulations are due to Harry Reid for showing some real leadership on this issue, and to Senate Democrats for refusing to knuckle under to the GOP obstruction of presidential nominees.