I honestly never thought it would come to this. Democrats have threatened the so-called nuclear option for so long — well, in truth both sides have, for much of the last decade or so — that it became a sort of background noise to our national politics.
But would Democrats really go so far as to do it? It seemed remote to me.
So what is happening now is a rare change to the Senate rules, the consequences of which for the Senate, this President, the presidency, and the future remain very uncertain. Even Harry Reid can’t really know how this will turn out in the end.
It’s something to behold. You should watch the proceedings.
Let the record show that the it was the nomination of Patricia Millett (right) to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that triggered the first major changes to the Senate filibuster rules since 1975. It is her nomination that Harry Reid is using to move to change the rules, which requires only a simple majority vote.
In case you weren’t able to watch, here’s the floor speech Harry Reid gave a little after 10 a.m. ET before setting in motion the rules change to the filibuster:
Mitch McConnell threw one last — or at least it appears to be the last — procedural monkey wrench in Harry Reid’s works, moving to adjourn the Senate. That’s forced a roll call vote on whether to adjourn and delayed the vote on Reid’s filibuster rules change.
Late Update: The motion to adjourn fails.
Later Update: The Senate is now voting to reconsider the Millett nomination. That will presumably also fail to muster the necessary 60 votes, at which point Reid will move to change the rules.
Filibuster reform is a way to distract from the problems of the Obamacare rollout. That’s what Mitch McConnell said on the floor responding to Harry Reid’s move. It’s what Speaker John Boeher said, too, in his weekly press conference as things were unfolding in the Senate.
You don’t want to miss the historic proceedings underway in the Senate. Watch.
The key vote in the sequence of procedural steps to undo the current filibuster rules is underway.
I don’t know what I expected. Maybe the phrase “nuclear option” conjured some cataclysmic moment on the Senate floor when Harry Reid presses a cartoonish red button and Mitch McConnell, tie askew and hair mussed, shouts an anguished “Noooooo” while lunging to stop him.
But there’s no such dramatics on the Senate floor. Not even anyone raising a cane.
Mitch McConnell is taking one more bite at the apple, having the Senate vote again on whether it really, really wants to change the Senate filibuster rules. But it should mirror the first vote a few minutes ago. The Senate filibuster rules undergo their first major change since 1975. Sahil Kapur explains how it all came down.