Norm Ornstein: Republicans Forced Reid's Hand On The Nuclear Option

[DonViejo]

Norm Ornstein: Republicans Forced Reid's Hand On The Nuclear Option

SAHIL KAPUR – NOVEMBER 21, 2013, 1:02 PM EST

Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told TPM that Republicans forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to "go nuclear" after his Democratic majority took the historic step Thursday and ended the filibuster for executive nominees and non-Supreme Court judicial nominees.

"For whatever reason, the Republicans decided to go nuclear first, with this utterly unnecessary violation of their own agreement and open decision to block the president from filling vacancies for his entire term, no matter how well qualified the nominees," Ornstein told TPM in an email. "It was a set of actions begging for a return nuclear response."

He also speculated that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) secretly wanted Democrats to go nuclear so he could use the same tactic to end the filibuster entirely if and when Republicans take the majority.

"McConnell's threat, it seems to me, makes clear the strategy: let Dems take the first step, and we will then bear no blame when we entirely blow up the Senate's rules after we take all the reins of power," he said. "That other Republicans like Corker, McCain, Alexander, Murkowski and so on, went along, shows how much the radicals and anti-institutionalists now dominate the Republican Party. Which is sad indeed."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/norm-ornstein-republicans-forced-reid-s-hand-on-the-nuclear-option

[Laelth]

1. Interesting perspective. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[BlueStreak]

2. Let's look at the Senate odds

There is a good chance that for the 2015-2016 Senate, Republicans will be in majority. (Dem chances of holding the majority are about as good as they were in 2012, but it is always harder in a non-Presidential year. There is a very good chance that McConnell could be a private citizen after this election.)

However, if the Republicans do have the majority, Obama will still be President, so even if they were to blow up the rules entirely, they wouldn't be in a position to get their way very much.

And in 2016, the numbers are VERY favorable for Dems to gain seats in the Senate, regardless what happens in the Presidential race, so we ought to have the majority for the 2017-2018 Senate.

[Wilms]

3. ^