I’ve read several accounts of the meeting the Senate held last night to discuss rules changes on the filibuster, but the New York Times is the only source I’ve seen that reported an offer of capitulation by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
After the meeting, Mr. McConnell offered Democrats up-or-down votes on all seven contested nominations in exchange for a promise to drop the rule-change threat. Mr. Reid demanded a pledge not to filibuster future nominations. Both sides balked, according to aides familiar with the exchange.
The seven contested nominees included the Secretary of Labor, the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, three positions on the National Labor Relations Board, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the head of the Import-Export Bank. Far from confirming this offer from McConnell, Roll Call wrote this:
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said disputed appointments to the National Labor Relations Board remained the main sticking point.
“The two NLRB appointments are really, really difficult for Republicans who believe they were illegally made. And that comes back to an issue of the separation of powers, and whether or not we’re going to concede to the executive the power to decide when Congress is or is not in session,” Thune said. He was referencing temporary appointments that President Barack Obama made but which were declared unconstitutional by federal courts. Republicans have suggested that if Obama selected new NLRB picks, it might help alleviate the impasse.
As I understood it, it was this offer to capitulate on the other nominees if Obama would retract two of his three NLRB nominees that McCain brought to the table last night. Since the GOP hate machine is hyperventilating about the recess appointments, they don’t feel like they can just go ahead and confirm them as if there were no real problem with them in the first place. After all, the case is headed to the Supreme Court, and how would it look?
First up, will be Richard Cordray to head the CFPB. Here’s where the New York Times‘ reporting seemingly contradicts itself:
If Mr. Reid failed to get 60 votes, he could move to change the rules of the Senate immediately. If debate were cut off, it would postpone action until the Senate moved on to limit debate on three nominees to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.
Again, Republicans could simply let them go through, but Mr. McConnell has taken a firm stance on two of the nominees, Richard Griffin and Sharon Block. President Obama initially appointed them to the labor board without the Senate’s consent in a disputed “recess appointment,” a move struck down by a federal appeals court.
The nominees have been at the center of the fight, and Democrats point to either Mr. Griffin or Ms. Block as the nuclear trigger.
But a couple of paragraphs earlier, the same reporters said that McConnell had given in on all seven nominees and was only resisting making a promise not to filibuster future executive branch nominees.
In any case, after they swear in new Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts at 10 am, the excitement will begin.
