HISTORIC: Nuclear Option Invoked
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell has just invoked the nuclear option, and by doing so has killed the filibuster. The Republican Majority Leader, unable to garner the 60 votes necessary under current rules to allow Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination to be move to a vote, blamed Senate Democrats rather than the candidate or his whip ability. A vote to kill the filibuster and require just a simple majority just concluded. By a vote of 52-48, the filibuster died.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, upon the cloture vote failing, addressed the full Senate to remind them that more than half the nominations filibustered were done so by Republicans against President Barack Obama. He then requested the Senate delay any further action on Gorsuch until April 24, the day the Senate returns from Easter recess – a move Republicans had used when then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lowered the threshold on certain votes from 60 to a simple majority.
Senator Reid made that move after four years of Republicans obstructing, at a historic rate, President Obama’s nominees and legislation. Senator McConnell has decided to do so after less than two months under President Trump.
Sen. McConnell claimed invoking the nuclear option was necessary to “restore normal order,” which is false.Â
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