Nominations result . All president ial nominations only require a simple majority now. On the cspan year in review, we show you some of the debate over the past year. Comments from harry reid, Mitch Mcconnell, and even video by c span viewers using the cspan video library. Are dark days in the history of the senate. I hate that we have come to this oink. Point. And now, our request for a joint at ang, all the senators time when attendance around here is frequently quite spotty, in an obvious effort to keep as members from hearing the concerns and arguments of the other side is possible. It remains our view that for this to be the kind of joint session of the senate that it tendencybe, given the of the senate to have sparse attendance on monday night, to have this meeting on tuesday, before it is too late. Mr. President , i dont want him to feel sorry for the senate and certainly not for me. Speak continue to try to in a tone that is appropriate. People start believing it. Quiteesident, it is interesting that he thinks that Richard Cordray, nobody says there is a thing wrong with this democrats and republicans have both said he is a good guy. This man has been waiting 724 days. Assistant secretary of defense, 292 days. 100 69y fund governor, days. Upa, 128 days. 5 of them. Average time waiting is nine months. We are with alex rogers, congressional reporter for time magazine. And mitchharry Reid Mcconnell after july, after the bubble up of the Nuclear Option discussion. What happened in july . What was the cause of concern that first brought it to everyones attention . The National Labor relations board, there were nominees that the republicans did not want to put on. Inre was a historic meeting the old chamber where it seemed like everything had gotten back together. They were going to get nominees that they wanted and a majority of the rules for the filibuster were going to stay the same. Fast forward to november and things have gotten a lot different. The government shutdown. There are four key nominations in three weeks. Filibuster. Have the agency that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac and three nominees for the D C Circuit Court of appeals. In terms of the july meeting and the Old Senate Chamber behind closed doors, what came out of there that was, and . A lot of positive feedback. The issue dies down a bit and i believe you wrote about some discussions going on between harry reid and john mccain that were trying to work something out . Before harry reid decided to , beforee Nuclear Button that, he had a conversation with senator john mccain who had replies the role he had already done in 2005 with the gang of 14. They talked about a similar deal. You will have your nominees for youd. C. Circuit court if keep the filibuster rules in place. Senator reid said no and went on with it. This applies to just the procedural votes that lead up to a final vote on the nomination. The vote before the vote. ,he changes that have been made the nominees for all executive branch nominees and Judicial Branch nominees with the exception of the Supreme Court. It is a big change and allows precedent in the future for legislation. This came to a head in november, so we will show viewers some of the debate that happened ahead of the Nuclear Option vote. The American People believe that congress is broken. They believe that the senate is broken. I believe the American People are right. , the unitedcongress states has wasted an impressive it did unprecedented amount of time with procedural hurdles. Work in this country goes undone. Ingres should be passing legislation that strengthens our economy, protect american and we are burning wasted hours and wasted days between filibusters. Instead of wasted days and wasted weeks, even one of the most basic duties. Confirmation of president ial nominees has become completely unworkable. There has been unprecedented obstruction. Republicans routinely use the filibuster to prevent president obama from appointing a consecutive team or confirming judges. It is a troubling trend that they are willing to block executive nominations even when they have no objection to the nominee. Toll, they block nominees circumvent the legislative process. Nominationsualified to force wholesale changes to laws. They restructure entire executive branch departments. Because theyminees dont want president obama to appoint any judges. The need for change is very obvious. It is clearly visible, it is manifest that we have to do something to change things. Country,story of our 230 years and more, there have been 168 filibusters. Have occurred during the obama administration. Over 230 years. 50 . Four and half years, 50 . Is there anything fair about that . These nominees deserve at least an up or down vote. The republican filibuster denies them a fair vote. It denies the president his team. Consequences and they are terrible. It is bad for president obama and bad for this body. It is bad for National Security and bad for economic security. To get why it is time the Senate Working again. Not for a democratic majority or a future republican majority but for the good of the United States of america. The senateto change before this institution becomes obsolete. At the beginning of this congress, the republican leader alleged that this congress should be more bipartisan than the last congress. Told in scripture. Take the old testament. Pledges, one must not break his word. Promised to work with the majority to process nominations and a timely manner by unanimous consent except in extraordinary circumstances. Later, three weeks republicans mounted a first in history filibuster of a highly qualified nominee for secretary of defense. Despite being a former republican senator, being a decorated war hero, chuck hagels nomination was pending in the senate for a record 34 days. Or than three times the previous average. Remember, our country was at war. Republicans a block executive nominees like secretary hagel not because they object to qualifications but because they seek to undermine the very government in which they were takeed to serve here in the nomination of Richard Cordray to read the lead the financial protection bureau. There was no doubt about his ability to do the job. But the Consumer Financial protection bureau, the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren went for more than two years without a leader because republicans refused to accept the law of the land. They wanted to bring back a lot of protects consumers from the greed of wall street. You dont have to like the laws of the land, but you do have to respect those laws and acknowledge them and abide by them. Similar obstruction continued unabated for seven more months until democrats threatened to change senate rules to allow up or down votes on executive nominations. In july, after dozens of executive nominees, republicans promised they would end the unprecedented obstruction. One look at the executive calendar shows that nothing has changed since july. They have continued the record of obstruction like no agreement had ever been reached. They continued obstruction as if no agreement had been reached. Currently 75 executive Branch Nominations waiting to be confirmed by the senate and waiting an average of 140 days. To thecutive nominee agency that safeguards the water that my children and my grandchildren drink, the air they breathe, has waited almost 900 days for confirmation. We agreed in july that the senate should be confirming nominees to ensure the proper function of government. Consistent and unprecedented obstruction has revised consent to deny obstruction. The American People have been witness to one of the most breathtaking indictments of Big Government liberalism and memory. Im not just talking about a website. I am talking about the way it an forced onto the public by administration and a Democratic Led Congress that we know is willing to do and say anything to pass the law. The president and his democratic allies were so determined to force their vision of health care on the public that they assured them up and down that they wouldnt lose the plan that they have. That they would save money instead of losing it. And that they would be able to use the doctors and hospitals they were already using. Of course, we know that that rhetoric just doesnt match. Stories on a daily basis range from heartbreaking to common. I saw a story about a guy getting a letter in the mail saying that his dog had qualified for insurance under obamacare. I would probably be running for the exits if i had supported this law. I would be looking to change the subject. Just as Senate Democrats have been doing with their threat of Going Nuclear and changing the senate rules on nominations. One of them has not enrolled a single person. I would probably want to talk about something else, too. The problem with this latest distraction. Ofdoesnt distract people obamacare, it reminds them of obamacare. It reminds them of all the broken promises. It reminds them of the power grab. Reminds them how democrats set up one set of rules for themselves and another for everybody else. Them andf rules for another for everybody else. Actually, this is all basically the same debate. Rather than distract people from obamacare, it only reinforces the narrative of a party that is willing to do and say just about anything to get its way. Willing to do or say just about anything to get its way. That is what they are doing all over again. Again, Senate Democrats are threatening to break the rules in order to change the rules of the senate. And over what . Over a cord that doesnt even have enough work to do . Millions of americans are hurting because of a law that democrats forced on them. What do they do about it . They cook up a fake fight over judges. If a fight over judges that arent even needed. I wanted to be talking about too. Hing else, but it wont work. The parallels between this latest skirmish are just too obvious to ignore. Think about it. Promisedity leader over and over again that he wouldnt break the rules of the senate. This is not an ancient promise. The 14th on meet the press, he said we are not touching judges. This year. We are not touching judges. Then there are the double standards. Democrats were in the minority and argued strenuously for the thing they now say we will have to do without. Namely, the right to extended debate on lifetime appointments. They believe one set of rules , andd apply to them another set to everybody else. He may have just as well said if you like the rules of the senate, you can keep them. Huh . If you like the rules of the senate, you can keep them . Just the way so many of the democrats now believe that obamacare is good enough for their constituents, but when it comes to their political allies and staff, that is different. Lets not forget about the raw power at play here. The similarities between the obama care debate and the threat to go nuclear are inescapable. They muscle through obamacare on the Party Line Vote and did not care about the views of the minority. What theys just about are going to do here. The American People decided to give the democrats not to give the democrats the house or to restore the filibuster proof majority they had in 2009. Democratic colleagues dont like that one bit. The American People are getting in the way. So they are trying to change the rules of the game to get their way anyway. They said so themselves. The senior senator said they wanted to fill up the d c circuit one way or the other. Fill up the d. C. Circuit one way or the other. And the reason is clear. Agenda runsamas through the d c circuit. He cant get what you want through congress because the American People in november 2010 said they had had enough and issued a National Restraining Order after watching two years of this administration unrestrained. Now the agenda runs through the bureaucracy and the d c circuit. Now a legislative check on the president. The administration doesnt much like checks and balances. They want to circumvent the people with an aggressive regulatory agenda. Our colleagues want to facilitate that by filling up the court that will rule on this agenda. A court that doesnt even have enough work to do if it means changing the subject from obamacare for a few days. They think they can change the rules of the senate in a way that benefits only them. Do it so that the agenda gets enacted but a future republican president could get his or her picks confirmed using the same precedent. They want to have it both ways. We didnt have a chance to debate the change in rules, so i will speak now on some things that should have been said before we voted, not that it would change the outcome, but we ought to know what we are doing before we vote rather than afterwards. I will spend a few minutes discussing what the majority the nucleard option. This wasnt a new threat. Leaderime the minority has chosen to exercise his rights under the senate rules, the majority has threatened to change the rules. This is the third time in just the last year that the majority leader has said that if he didnt get his way, he would change the rules. Is as many that judicial nominees as our side has stopped through filibuster. Attempt toe recent simultaneously add three judges to the d. C. Circuit that arent needed, republicans stopped a grand total of two judicial nominees. Not 10, as they had by president nots fifth term in office, 34 as one of my colleagues tried to suggest earlier this week. Stopped. Been nominees, wee the stopped a grand total of five. Not 10 as the democrats had done in 2005 or 34 as one of my colleagues tried to argue earlier this week. During the same time, we confirmed 209 more article three judges. A record of 209 judges approved the five that were not approved. This threat isnt based on any crisis. There is no crisis. Todays wall street journal editorial entitled d. C. Circuit breakers, the white house wants to pack a cord whose judges are underworked. It lays out a caseload pretty clearly and i ask this editorial be made part of the record. This is about a naked power grab and nothing more. This is about the other side not getting everything they want when they want it. The other side claims that they were pushed to this point because our side objected to the plan to fill the d. C. Circuit with judges. But this side plans to forget history. Lets review how we got here. After the president nominated three nominees for the d. C. Arcuit that arent needed, blatant political power grab in its own right, what did the republicans do . We did something quite simple. We said we want to go by the rules the democrats set in 2006. We would hold those democrats to the same standard they established in 2006 when they blocked a nominee of bushes. Of why theear democrats are outraged. They are outraged because republicans had the temerity to hold the other Political Party to a standard that they established. Did, because we insisted we all play by the same rules, they came right back and said, then we will change the rules. Said, we side has dont want to be held to the standards we established in 2006. And if you dont give us what we want, we are willing to forever change the senate. That is what happened today. We hear a lot of ultimatums around here. But this is very different. This threat is designed to hold the United States senate hostage. It is different because it is designed to hold hostage all of the senates history and traditions. Itis different because relies on the goodwill of senators that dont want to see the senate as we know it destroyed or as the constitution writers intended. I will note that todays majority didnt always feel that way. The very way we have seen expressed today. On the other side described their fight to preserve the filibuster with great pride. In 2006, 1 of my colleagues said, the Nuclear Option was the most important issue i have worked on in my public life. My proudeston was moment as the minority leader. I am urged with a renewed appreciation for the majesty of senate rules. I intend to run the senate with respect for the rules and for the minority rights the rules protect. Another of my democrat colleagues had this to say. I will start the quote again. Today, republicans are threatening to take away one of the few remaining checks on the power of the executive branch by their use of what has become known as the Nuclear Option. It is an assault on checks and balances and on the protection of minority rights. A lemonade in the filibuster by Nuclear Option would destroy the constitutions design of the senate as an effective check on the executive. You have had two quotes from democrats in 2005 and 2006, very senatey supporting the using the filibuster to protect minority rights. But then they went to the majority and the tradition of the senate doesnt mean much. Have another quote from 2005. I detest this mention of a Nuclear Option. The constitutional option. There is nothing constitutional about it. But that was way back then. The mineajority was in nor any and there was a republican in the white house. Today, the shoe is on the other foot. To other side is willing forever change the senate because republicans have the to hold the Majority Party of today to their own standard. Why would the other side do this . Clearly is not a crisis on the circuit. They say if we confirm any more judges, there would not be enough to go around. As if all these nominees are mainstream and census picked. Despite what the other side would have you believe. The professor has written this about motherhood. Productive rights, and looting the rights to contraceptive and abortion lay a central role in freeing wom