A tentative deal to avert nuclear-style filibuster reform nearly fell apart Wednesday over a procedural vote to advance the nomination of Byron Todd Jones to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
“We always knew this one would be a tough one,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Wednesday.
At the last minute, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) changed her ‘no’ vote to ‘yes,’ which will likely end up being the key vote. After her vote, 59 ‘yes’ votes had been cast for Jones, and senators said the vote was being held open while Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) was en route to Washington from North Dakota to cast the 60th vote.
If Jones had been filibustered, it would have violated a Senate agreement earlier this month under which Republicans would either give President Obama’s pending nominees to executive branch positions an up-or-down vote or risk Democrats changing the rules via the nuclear option. The nuclear option requires only a simple majority vote to change the rules of the Senate regarding the filibuster, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s threat to use it prompted howls of outage of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP senators.
“I’ve always believed [the deal] was fragile,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a central figure in crafting the agreement and warding off the nuclear option, told reporters. “Don’t get me wrong. I never believed otherwise.”
Murkowski changed her vote after speaking to McCain and Susan Collins (R-ME), both of whom voted yes, on the floor. The Alaskan declined to talk to reporters afterward. Democrats expected her to vote yes but privately believe she was initially talked out of it.
“Lisa’s just a friend of mine and I thought we’d have a nice little chat about what we had for dinner last night,” Collins quipped, describing as “accurate” a reporter’s characterization that she rescued Murkowski as she was being ganged up on by Republican senators. “I was concerned that she was being pummeled by both sides.”
Collins told reporters that despite her “concerns” about Jones’ nomination, “I believe the way to express those concerns is to vote no on his nominations rather than voting no on cloture. I think that there are too many filibusters in the Senate, and that we need to move forward on bills and on nominations and let the Senate work its will.”
Senate leaders expect to keep the vote open until about 7 P.M. ET. A spokesperson for Heitkamp told TPM she’s “currently on her way to Washington from North Dakota” that “[i]f the vote is held open, she would like to be able to cast her vote.”
If confirmed, Jones would become the first permanent ATF director since the position was made subject to Senate confirmation seven years ago.
