Reid goes NUCLEAR!!! [View all]

[George II]

Last edited Thu Nov 21, 2013, 12:49 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: NY Times, C-Span

Landmark Senate Vote Limits Filibusters

By JEREMY W. PETERS

Published: November 21, 2013

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to eliminate the use of the filibuster against most presidential nominees, a move that will break the Republican blockade of President Obama’s picks to cabinet posts and the federal judiciary. The change is the most fundamental shift in the way the Senate functions in more than a generation.

The vote was one that members of both parties had threatened for the better part of a decade, but had always stopped short of carrying out. This time, with little left of the bipartisan spirit that helped seal compromises on filibuster rule changes in the past, there was no last-minute deal to be struck.

The vote was 52 to 48.

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, set the change in motion on Thursday with a series of procedural steps.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/us/politics/reid-sets-in-motion-steps-to-limit-use-of-filibuster.html?hp&_r=0

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Happening now on the floor of the Senate, Reid is proposing to change the Senate rules to approve Executive Branch nominations by a simple majority!

More to come, I'm sure...