Something unexpected and newsworthy happened on the Senate floor Thursday morning during an otherwise commonplace argument between Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell over confirmations and the “nuclear option.”
It had nothing to do with truly imperiled nominees like Rich Cordray over at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or Tom Perez at the Department of Labor. But it nonetheless reveals a great deal about power dynamics between the leaders as the Senate builds toward a showdown over key confirmations — and perhaps another effort to change the Senate’s filibuster rules.
At issue Thursday was Sri Srinivasan, whom President Obama nominated to serve on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Srinivasan has been a shoo-in for weeks. But Reid and McConnell have disagreed about precisely when he should be officially confirmed. Reid wanted the vote this week. McConnell wanted to wait three business days — not a huge delay in most circumstances, but with the impending Memorial Day break it would’ve kicked the confirmation into early June.
So this week, Reid used the Senate rules to provoke a confrontation: Technically he filed cloture on Srinivasan’s nomination, guaranteeing him at least a test vote this week. More meaningfully, he forced McConnell to choose between sustaining a filibuster against Srinivasan through early June (a move that would have helped Reid build his case for changing the rules this summer) and agreeing to a confirmation vote now (effectively caving).
McConnell caved Thursday morning on the Senate floor. A small cave. But a cave nonetheless. Srinivasan will be confirmed Thursday afternoon. But the “cave” is only a small part of the story.
“The effort to justify breaking the rules just fell apart,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told TPM.
That’s probably overstating things a bit. But it points to the fact that McConnell is actively trying to undermine Reid’s efforts to present Republicans with a Sophie’s choice between dropping their filibuster threats against nominees they oppose and standing by as Democrats do away with the filibuster on presidential nominees altogether.
As we reported Wednesday, Reid is structuring confirmation votes on existing nominees like Cordray and Perez to either break GOP filibusters or build a permission structure for his members to support a controversial rules change if their nominations fail. McConnell’s move today suggests he believes Reid’s case will be persuasive, if only to Democrats, and doesn’t want to enable it.
Srinivasan is an easy pawn to forfeit in this game, but the fact that McConnell recognizes Reid’s strategy, and its potential effectiveness, means he might have to concede more tactically significant pieces in the future.
