Senate could be ripe for procedural obstacles
WASHINGTON — Since the beginning of the 115th Congress, the Senate has operated in a procedural bubble, where Republicans can largely move nominations and legislation with simple majorities on the floor.
That has been the case for votes on the latest slate of Cabinet-level nominations that included confirmations of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to be Interior secretary, Ben Carson as Housing and Urban Development secretary and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be Energy secretary.
But the clock is ticking on how long Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can continue moving items through privileged procedures that only require Republican votes to carry the day.
McConnell began the year's work on a fiscal 2017 budget resolution that does not have the force of law since it doesn't require the president's signature.
That measure was designed to fulfill a campaign promise by beginning the process of unwinding the 2010 health care law. It did that by including instructions for congressional committees to write legislation that affects the Obama-era overhaul and, like the budget resolution, would allow expedited consideration that only needs a simple majority for floor passage.
Senators have cast a few votes on less contentious bills that would have otherwise been subject to a Democratic filibuster, such as a bill to grant the Government Accountability Office access to certain sensitive information and a measure that was needed to allow Gen. James Mattis to serve as defense secretary. He would have otherwise been ineligible, as he retired from the Marine Corps in 2013, which was within the sevenyear cooling-off period required by law.
Democrats have been criticized for slowing the confirmation of the president's nominees to round out his administration, but Republicans can push through almost all of them on their own, again with simple majority votes. But the procedural bubble the GOP has enjoyed will eventually pop when they must turn to legislation that is subject to a 60-vote threshold to limit debate. McConnell knows this, and the morning after President Donald Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress last week, he asked Democrats to be a part of legislation that would require their cooperation.
"I know our Democratic friends have different ideas than us on many of these things. I know the far left is pressuring them to burn the place down because it can't accept the results of last year's election. But everyone knows that won't get us anywhere at all," the Kentucky Republican said on the floor.