US Democrats rammed through potentially explosive changes to centuries-old Senate rules on Thursday, a move backed by US President Barack Obama, but assailed by furious Republicans as an unprecedented power grab.
The historic move abolishes filibusters on all presidential political nominees, as well as lower-court picks, theoretically ending many of the blocking tactics that Obama said have been used as “a reckless and relentless tool to grind all business to a halt.”
The chamber’s Democratic leadership invoked the move, known in Washington as the “nuclear option,” to erase the procedures that for more than 200 years have required a 60-vote threshold — instead of a simple majority vote in the 100-seat chamber — to cut off debate on a nominee.
The so-called filibuster would remain intact for US Supreme Court nominations and for all legislation, but the move would grease the wheels on stalled nominees, including federal judges.
In a brief statement before reporters at the White House, Obama blasted Republicans for a “deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, just to re-fight the results of an election.”
He said the step taken by the Senate was important for future presidents “to fulfill his or her constitutional duty.”
“My judicial nominees have waited nearly two-and-a-half times longer to receive Senate votes on the floor than those of [former] president Bush,” he added.
“This isn’t obstruction on substance, on qualifications. It’s just to gum up the works,” Obama said.
Obama noted that in the six decades before he became president, about 20 nominees were filibustered. Since he took office, close to 30 judicial and executive nominees have had their nominations blocked.
Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader who pushed the reforms, said that of the 23 District Court judges filibustered in the nation’s 230-year history, 20 have been blocked during Obama’s presidency.
“With today’s vote we declared that we’re on the side of the problem-solvers,” Reid said, adding that the vote was “not a time for celebration,” but serious contemplation.
“When it comes to what’s gone on on the Senate floor, there’s a lot of blame to go around,” he said. “But the obstruction we’ve seen from Republicans against President Obama has reached new heights never dreamed of ... through all the ups and downs we’ve had as a country.”
Some lawmakers worry the move will curtail the influence of the Senate’s minority party and lead to an escalation of partisanship.
Such was the argument apparently employed by Obama himself in April 2005, when as a newly elected senator he urged colleagues not to implement such a change.
“If the majority chooses to end the filibuster, if they choose to change the rules and put an end to democratic debate, then the fighting, the bitterness and the gridlock will only get worse,” Obama said at the time.
Republicans on Thursday warned it would dramatically boost the partisan nature of presidential picks — regardless of which party holds the White House.
“I think you’ll see harder-edged partisan choices and the filter that exists today to kind of weed those folks out is going to be less,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was