FILI-BUSTED! Republicans Go ‘Nuclear,’ Bust Through Democratic Filibuster On Gorsuch (Video)

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Senate Republicans deployed the so-called “nuclear option” Thursday in their drive to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, dramatically changing the way the Senate does business in order to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

In a fast-paced chain of events that clears the way for Gorsuch to be confirmed by Friday evening, majority Republicans changed Senate precedent so that a high court nominee can advance to a final vote with a simple majority of 51 senators, as opposed to 60.

By Senate standards, this was ground-shaking, Fox News reports..

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared he did so to “restore norms” and get past what he called an “unprecedented” Democratic filibuster.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., countered that the changes could send the Senate and the nomination process “over the cliff.”

Republicans succeeded in making the change on a party-line vote Thursday afternoon. The body then swiftly took another, 55-45 vote to end debate and tee up a final confirmation vote expected late Friday.

This was after Democrats initially blocked Gorsuch in a filibuster earlier in the day. Four Democrats broke ranks — Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.; and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. – but Republicans still fell short of the 60 votes needed to proceed, prompting McConnell to overhaul the way the Senate works.

He said he did so “for the sake of our country.”

Bennet later opposed Gorsuch on the do-over vote.

While congressional Republicans and President Trump are now virtually guaranteed to get Gorsuch on the high court, the impact of the events that played out Thursday could be felt for years, if not decades, to come. Each party blamed the other for the escalation and the breakdown in the Senate’s parliamentary decorum.

Indeed, McConnell’s predecessor as Senate majority leader Harry Reid, now retired, took the first step down the “nuclear” road by lowering the threshold for other nominees in 2013 – a controversial move Republicans frequently brought up on the road to Thursday’s proceedings.

But lowering the threshold for a Supreme Court pick is a more significant step. It means for the foreseeable future, the minority party will have significantly less leverage to oppose any nominee to the highest court in the land, no matter who is president.

Schumer said there will be “less faith in the Supreme Court” going forward.

Read the full story here.

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