Civic Register
| 1.19.22
Senate Democrats to Deploy 'Nuclear Option' for Filibuster Reform Over Elections Bill
Should Senate Democrats use the “nuclear option” to reform the filibuster?
What’s the story?
- Senate Democrats are preparing to hold a series of votes on Wednesday that will result in an attempt to use the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules regarding the legislative filibuster to make it easier to pass election reform legislation on party-line votes with a simple majority.
- Democrats’ effort to deploy the nuclear option is expected to fail in the evenly-divided chamber due to opposition by a majority of senators, including all 50 Republicans and at least two Democrats ― Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). It will play out after the latest iteration of Democrats’ election reform proposal, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, fails along party-lines well short of the threshold needed to overcome the legislative filibuster.
- Democratic leadership is proposing to change the legislative filibuster’s 60 vote threshold to limit debate (or “invoke cloture”) on most legislation. It would still allow the minority party to block legislation by using a talking filibuster that could be brought to an end by 60 votes, but if the minority party stops their talking filibuster the bill could then pass with a simple majority vote. Democratic leaders argue the changes are necessary to ensure the passage of federal legislation to prevent states from passing laws they believe are racially-motivated voter suppression.
- Those efforts to persuade Manchin and Sinema appear to have fallen flat, as they have persisted in expressing opposition to proposals that would create exceptions to legislative filibuster’s 60 vote threshold. They believe such exceptions would inevitably lead to further exceptions being created until effectively all legislation is being passed on simple majority votes; and they fear that in turn would create wild swings in many areas of public policy whenever control of the presidency, Senate, and House changes hands between the two major parties.
- Manchin spoke on the floor ahead of Wednesday's votes and explained, "Allowing one party to exert complete control in the Senate with only a simple majority will only pour fuel on the fire political whiplash and dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart."
How does the “nuclear option” work?
- The nuclear option is effectively a method by which a simple majority of senators can change the Senate’s precedents for how a bill or nomination should be considered. It’s considered the “nuclear option” because formal changes to Senate rules require 67 votes, so it circumvents and departs from that requirement by making a change to the precedent with a simple majority.
- The majority party in the Senate deploys the nuclear option by raising a point of order to make the desired change after a related vote occurs. Then the presiding chair either rules that the change is out of order, triggering an appeal by the majority party, or if the chair rules favorably then the minority party raises a point of order that the change is a violation of Senate precedent.
- Appealing the ruling of the chair or raising a point of order triggers a vote in which senators are effectively asked to decide what the precedent is with a simple majority vote.
When has the nuclear option been used lately?
- The first significant change to the legislative filibuster in modern times occurred in 2013 when then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Democratic senators voted along party-lines using the nuclear option to lower the threshold for invoking cloture on all non-Supreme Court nominations to executive and judicial positions from 60 votes to a simple majority.
- The second occurred in 2017 when then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Republican senators voted along party-lines to lower the cloture threshold for Supreme Court nominations from 60 votes to a simple majority.
- A third, lesser-known use of the nuclear option occurred in 2019 when McConnell and Senate Republicans used it to shorten the period of post-cloture debate on nominations to federal district courts and lower-tier executive branch positions (such as a deputy assistant secretary) from a maximum of 30 hours to 2 hours. This change didn’t apply to nominations to the Supreme Court, appeals courts, Cabinet-level executive branch positions, or to certain federal commissions ― all of which remain subject to a maximum of 30 hours of post-cloture debate like most legislation is.
- Contrary to some reporting, the Senate did not create a new permanent exception to the filibuster for debt limit legislation when it was considered recently. The Senate effectively created a one-time exception by including an expedited process for subsequent debt limit legislation in a bill that also postponed Medicare cuts. On December 9th, 2021, the Senate cast a bipartisan vote of 64-36 to invoke cloture on the legislation to delay Medicare cuts and create the expedited process for the future debt limit increase bill, then it passed the bill on a bipartisan 59-35 vote later that day. The Senate then considered the debt limit increase bill using the expedited process on December 14th, when it passed along party-lines.
RELATED READING
- Biden Urges Senate to Eliminate Filibuster to Clear Way for Democrats’ Election Reforms (1/12/22)
- Schumer Signals Vote on ‘Nuclear Option’ to Eliminate Senate’s Filibuster (1/11/22)
- Manchin Rejects Democrats’ ‘For the People Act’ & Reiterates Support for Preserving Senate’s Filibuster (6/7/21)
- Democrats Flip-Flop on the Filibuster After Winning the Senate Majority (3/30/21)
- Senate Nears Powersharing Deal After Moderate Dems Vow to Preserve Filibuster (1/29/21)
- Should Senate Democrats Eliminate the Legislative Filibuster? (1/25/21)
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Senate Democrats via Flickr / Creative Commons)
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I support changes to the filibuster.
This is IMPORTANT of an issue for OUR Country to have it blocked by totally by Republicans and 2 Democrats! So disheartening what has and is taking place as far as being able to VOTE!
What ever is necessary when there is no possibilty of agreement
Use it
Yep! The Reps. use it all the time. It is time for the Dems to use it get the stagnation over with and get some work done, Of the people, For the people, and By the people!
No more Mr Nice Guy. Republicans are ruthless and have no shame
The US would be a better place if 90% of Democrats used a nuclear option on themselves. Like the real nuclear option.
How can people think the current situation is better than when Trump was in power? Propaganda to the hilt.
Do Dems even have a Nuclear Option???
It’s the only way to pass the bill.
Yes, yes, yes! If that means blow it up, please do so. Then maybe you can work to get the work "of, by and for the people done"!
Do it quick or they will all take a vacation before you can get it done. They don't want to work. They are the laziest group of Republicans in the history of this country, and they know it.
I said are you people stupid in Washington? Democrats you’re going to need the Fuller buster why would you want to get rid of it. Do you think you’re infallible. This is the dumbest party and I have never seen it so dumb. I voted for Barack Obama. Twice. I was disappointed. He promised a lot and did very little. It doesn’t matter to me what color a president is what nationality a president is. I wouldn’t be a democrat or a republican. I am an independent and I will stay that way. Why are all of these stupid things happening in Washington all of these mandates. Are you all On drugs, what the hell are you people doing up there stop thinking about yourselves and start thinking about the American people and you’re going to say that you are thinking of us but what the hell it doesn’t show us where we are do you wanna change everything there’s a constitution go buy it
If it isn't broke, don't attempt to fix it.
Damn they sure are a buncha non democratic nazis here. Think that they should be able to bypass whatever they want as long as they get their way.
Anything is worth a try. But I’m not very optimistic. It’s ironic, don’t you think, that as a country we were so worried about Russia and its nuclear arsenal, that we were in a “Cold War” for 40+ years concerned that our way of life would be obliterated in a blinding flash and mushroom cloud. When all it really took was a handful of white supremacists, racist, misogynists and cowardly malignant narcissists who wanted power at any cost to, quite easily it turns out, completely obliterate our way of life and our 240 year Democratic experiment without a single bomb being dropped. I leave you now with the same epitaph Harry “Breaker” Morant has on his tombstone that now occupies America’s Democracy tombstone: Matthew 10:36, “And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”.
Just as the GOP has done on many occasions. GOP NEVER shows any inclination to work together. Always an arrogant & aligned power-first “our way or the highway” modus operandi. GOP nothing more than a Party of Liars who are solely responsible for destroying our democracy. Me? A former Republican now Independent as completely repulsed by what the GOP has devolved to be. Unethical, immoral, liars, fear mongerers, do nothing but enrich the rich - unrecognizable from any semblance of honesty or decency.
yes they should the filibuster needs to go it is obsolete and misused by republicans
The Democrats most certainly should employ the nuclear option to allow the Senate Majority to pass obviously needed voter protections. They won’t due to the blank-check funding of a couple of key Democratic Senators who do not want their gravy train to stop. Mitch the Malevolent has had no problem using the nuclear option whenever it favored his party’s political interests, saying FU to Democrats every time. Did Manchin forget that every time he worked on legislation with Republicans that even those who worked with him joined a block-vote to stop his legislation? The only exception was the $500 Billion of new money for the infrastructure program and the taking back of $700 Billion from pandemic support. I am sick of the people who want to get elected to get personally rich, and not to actually govern for the good of the country, … … … If a congressperson was doing the job they were elected to do, it would be quite time consuming and very hard work - and they would not be doing it if they were not genuinely committed to support the common good. Since it is obvious that many congresspeople are not working all that hard, they must be there to sell their political influence to the highest bidder,
Get it done.