Kerry Picket of the Daily Caller reports that U.S. Senate Republicans are considering a rule change that would limit Democrats’ efforts to slow the legislative process.
Although all presidential appointments now only require a simple majority vote (known as a cloture vote) to move forward from debate for a final up or down vote, the minority can still demand 30 hours of non-continuous floor debate before the procedure.
Previously, all presidential appointments required 60 votes in the chamber to move forward from debate to a final vote, but when Democrats had the majority, then-Majority Leader Harry Reid changed the rules so only a simple majority for cloture was necessary for all appointments — with the exception of Supreme Court picks.
During Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation earlier this year, Republicans changed the cloture rule to include SCOTUS picks to require only a simple majority vote.
However, the 30-hour debate rule remained, and Democrats have used the procedure to drag out Trump appointments over long periods of time — to the frustration of Republicans.
“I thought it should have been reformed a long time ago. Yeah. We had an agreement several sessions ago to do two, four, and eight. And there’s And there’s no reason why we should ever be on eight for anything other than a Supreme Court nominee…It should definitely be reformed,” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford told TheDC.
Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby appeared to be in agreement with his colleagues telling TheDC, “I’m open to anything that moves the process in a fair way.”
