Reid Invokes 'Nuclear Option' to Change Senate Rules

By Jon E. Dougherty at 7 Oct 2011

(Newsroom America) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked a little-used procedure commonly known on Capitol Hill as the "nuclear option" to change Senate procedural rules.

Reid and 50 other members of his caucus voted unilaterally Thursday evening to change rules to prevent the Republican minority from forcing votes on amendments some Democrats find uncomfortable, after the chamber has voted to move to a bill's final passage.

The final vote on Reid's changes was 51-48, leaving Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., angry, The Hill newspaper reported.

The move took Republicans by surprise, the paper said, as they were not expecting such a heavy-handed tactic to what had been relatively low-key debate over a China currency bill.

Reid had become frustrated with GOP demands for votes on motions to suspend the rules after the chamber voted earlier in the day to limit debate.

The Hill said McConnell threatened to introduce such motion forcing a vote on President Obama's original jobs bill, which many Democrats don't like because it would limit tax deductions for households earning more than $250,000 a year.

McConnell sought to highlight to the president how few of his fellow Democrats really supported the bill, the paper said.

"The Republican Senators have filed nine motions to suspend the rules to consider further amendments but the same logic that allows for nine such motions could lead to the consideration of 99 such amendments," Reid said before announcing the rule change.

That would result in a virtual "vote-a-rama," said Reid, even after the chamber had voted to close debate.

Politico reported that the Senate was plunged into procedural chaos after the change. Republicans charged that it would now fundamentally limit the rights of the minority party.

Reid and Democrats decided to employ the option after the majority leader lost an appeal by the chamber's presiding officer, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, ruled against Reid's point of order that "motions to suspend" were out of order after a filibuster is defeated. By a slim margin, the chamber then voted that the presiding officer's ruling was incorrect.

"We are fundamentally turning the Senate into the House," an obviously distraught McConnell said following the vote, referring to that chamber's rules to limit debate. "The rules of the Senate will be effectively changed to lock out the minority party even more."

The move is sure to increase the partisan rancor within the chamber, which is already at a high level, analysts said Friday.

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