Majority Leader Reid, Democratic Senators Vote to End Gridlock on Nominations

Today, Senate Majority Leader Reid and nearly every Democratic Senator have acted to end Senate gridlock and obstruction on Presidential nominations.

Activists from CWA and other groups that make up the Democracy Initiative, a group representing 20 million members, mobilized and told their Democratic senators that "enough is enough, it's time to fix the Senate."

Click here to send a thank you to Leader Reid.

CWA commends Leader Reid for his leadership in ensuring that the President's executive and most judicial nominations get an up-or-down vote and said that the Senate action restores an important principle of our democracy. The Senate majority's procedural action means that President Obama's nominations will get confirmation votes.

"The Senate action re-enforces the intent of Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly states that the Senate's obligation of advice and consent is based on majority support, not super majority support. This is a good first step toward restoring a Senate that functions as an integral part of our democracy," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

Contrary to Republican claims, the procedure used by Leader Reid isn't new and there's nothing "nuclear" or revolutionary about it. Instead, it is the Republicans' recent strategy of preventing up-or-down votes on qualified nominees without respect to their merits that has been a radical departure from Senate history.

Republicans have been blocking votes on qualified executive and judicial nominees as part of a larger strategy to undermine laws and agencies they disagree with, and to deny President Obama his constitutional authority to fill vacancies.

After months of Republican empty promises and broken agreements, Leader Reid had no other choice but to put forward the procedural motion. The Senate has changed application of the rules at least 18 times in the last 35 years, though not necessarily regarding nominations. In 1980, then Majority Leader Byrd used the exact same procedure to eliminate filibusters on a motion to proceed to nominations.

Most recently, the Republican minority has refused to move to an up-or-down vote on President Obama's nominations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; there are at least 100 nominations awaiting Senate action.

Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard, and Judge Robert Wilkins have all received the highest possible rating from the non-partisan American Bar Association. They have broad bipartisan support, and no one has questioned their qualifications. Senate Republicans have blocked all three from getting a yes-or-no vote and have made no secret as to why: Senate Republicans don't want any appointments by President Obama to this court. They want a conservative leaning court that will keep issuing decisions like the Noel Canning case, which found that the president's recess appointments were not valid.

The same is true for Congressman Mel Watt, nominated to head the Federal Housing Finance Administration, and critical of the effort to stop unfair foreclosures. This marks the first time that a sitting member of Congress has been blocked from getting an up-or-down vote on a nomination.