“Senate
Democrats have gone nuclear” is one of the lead headlines this week. On
Thursday the Senate Democrats made a major change to Senate protocol striking
down the rule about filibustering and greatly weakening the minority’s power. “The so-called nuclear option eliminates
the requirement for a 60-vote majority to confirm most presidential
nominees, exempting Supreme Court nominees.”[1]
The new change will exempt executive nominees such as agency heads from being
filibustered, this will greatly shrink the minority party’s control over
nominations. Democrats claim that the nuclear options stems from the
frustrating blockade Republican Senators have imposed on Obama’s nominees. The
hope is that this will smooth the appointment process. The Obama backed rule change
will spark political hostility and have left some to question if this change
wont come back to haunt the Democrats. In the words of Senator McConnell, “You’ll
regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think.”[2]
Turning
to foreign policy, Secretary of State John Kerry has been busy negotiating a nuclear weapons deal with Iran this
week, but not all in Congress are supportive. Since Iran is willing to
negotiate, the President has said that the U.S. should lift some of its
economic sanctions on Iran. The Republicans are weary of this and are not too
optimistic that these nuclear weapons talks will bring any real change. Senator Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted this week: “Unless the agreement requires dismantling
of the Iranian centrifuges, we really haven’t gained anything.”[3]
The Republicans have declared that they will not support lifting sanctions
unless a more drastic deal is made in the negotiations. The negotiations with
Iran are not completely finalized so perhaps we will have to wait and see the
outcome in order to determine if sanctions will be lifted.
The
House adjourned Thursday for a 10-day Thanksgiving vacation and with that
budget negotiations have stopped for the time being. Republicans and Democrats
in the conference committee are struggling to come to an agreement and time is
running out. With the holiday vacation this only leaves budget negotiators with
eight working days to reach a compromise by the deadline set for December 13th,
otherwise the issue will be pushed back to the following year. “Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said
Thursday that he's hopeful the negotiators will reach a deal by the Dec. 13
deadline. If they don't, he added, GOP leaders are prepared to move a
short-term continuing resolution at current spending levels — which includes
the sequester cuts — to prevent a government shutdown.”[4]
The pressure is on to reach a budget deal before the end of the year and it
seems that all of Washington is holding their breath until than.
Written by Carolyn Dorf and Richard Reid
[1] Sarah Westwood, "History of Nuclear decisions:
Fallout from Senate Dems going 'nuclear' ," The Washington Times, Nov 22, 2013. http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/unicorn-diaries/2013/nov/22/fallout-senate-democrats-nuclear-option/.
[2] Sarah Westwood, "History of Nuclear decisions:
Fallout from Senate Dems going 'nuclear' ," The Washington Times, Nov 22, 2013. http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/unicorn-diaries/2013/nov/22/fallout-senate-democrats-nuclear-option/.
[3] Peter Schroeder, "Republicans wary of Iran
nuclear deal ," The Hill, Nov.
23, 2013. http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-eastnorth-africa/191267-gop-wary-of-iran-deal.
[4] Mike Lillis, "Dem leaders: No break before budget
deal," The Hill, Nov. 21, 2013.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/191076-dem-leaders-no-break-before-budget-deal.
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