Waching daily Apr 8 2017

tonight Senate Republicans have

triggered the so-called nuclear option

therefore I raise a point of order that

the vote on cloture under the precedent

set on November 21st 2013 is a majority

vote on all nominations Senate Majority

Leader Mitch McConnell making a historic

change to the Senate rules to clear the

path forward for president Trump's

Supreme Court nominee today's vote is a

cautionary tale about how unbridled

partisan escalation can ultimately

overwhelm our basic instinct lenee shin

to work together Republicans repeatedly

touting nominee Neal gorgeous

qualifications and blaming anger at

Trump for the Democratic blockade the

opposition to this particular nominee is

more about the man that nominated him

and the party he represents than the

nominee himself you know that he'll be

confirmed and you know in your hearts of

art that he deserves to be confirmed and

that's why this is especially sad state

of affairs the change that's so-called

nuclear option dropped the threshold to

advanced courses nomination from 60 to

just 51 votes getting Republicans who

hold fifty two seats in the chamber the

ability to work with no Democratic help

in a post-nuclear world if the Senate

and the presidency are in this hands of

the same party there's no incentive to

even speak to the Senate Minority that's

a recipe for more conflict and bad blood

between the parties not less the move

marks a culmination or perhaps

continuation of events set into motion

over years of mistrust and partisanship

it follows the 2013 democratic move that

made the same change for lower court

appointees it's time to change the

Senate before this institution becomes

obsolete it was done then to overcome

GOP blockades of many of President

Obama's nominees and drew this start

the prescient warning from then Minority

Leader McConnell you'll regret those and

you may regret it a lot sooner than in

fact McConnell now escalating deeply

embedded partisan tensions himself with

a move even some Republican colleagues

are criticizing I find myself torn

between protecting the traditions and

practices of the Senate and the

importance of having a full complement

of judges two justices on the US Supreme

Court even as they all voted in favor

mr. McCain I'm making clear that by

week's end mr. Trump's first pick for

the highest court in the land will be

confirmed