Ask @nielslesniewski
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First cloture vote would be Tuesday morning. Then 30 hours, then confirmation vote on Quarles and cloture on the first of the judges. Repeat. (But, they usually get a deal to collapse time and magically have everything done around 2 pm Thursday)
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Wow, sounds painful.... but the upshot is these four nominees should have floor votes by Thursday at 2 p.m., you think?
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Yes, that would the normal expectation these days.
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Is there a reason McConnell hasn't brought more nominees that have cleared committee for a vote already? Some have been floating for 3+ months.
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30 hours is what has been slowing things down. You have to have 30 hours of debate between the filing of the cloture motion and the vote on cloture. It cannot run concurrently. The up-or-down vote is shortly after the cloture motion.
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Actually I take that back -- I think there has to be some post-cloture debate as well.
@seanmdav will know this way better than I do. -
Thanks! One other question (for you and/or
@seanmdav) - can the Senate have pro forma sessions with almost nobody in the chamber to satisfy the 30 hours of "debate"? -
Yes. See, e.g, what will happen during the “August Senate session” that McConnell has called.
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Re time running concurrently, oddly I can't recall seeing that Q before. In general (ie unless there's a UC to contrary) all session time post-cloture counts against the 30 hrs. So if cloture is invoked on multiple noms in a series, I think time wd run concurrently. But not sure.
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To clarify: The only way the Senate can have a back-to-back series of cloture votes on nominees is if there's a UC to allow it; in that scenario, if cloture is invoked on each of them, in theory the 30 hours can run concurrently. ...
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But w/o a UC, back-to-back cloture votes can't happen – b/c if cloture is invoked on Nom 1, Nom 1 remains the Senate's business until resolved (unless a UC allows moving to other business). IOW: It's cloture, then (up to) 30 hours; then next cloture, then (up to) 30 hours; etc.
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I am not a bona fide Senate expert by any means, but I do follow Senate floor politics.
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1/ usually there is a “bed-check” vote on Monday at 5:30 pm to make sure Senators are in Washington, D.C. to vote on a bill or nomination.
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2/ The ldr has usually scheduled the first cloture vote on a given series of nominations for a week at 5:30 on a given Monday. Since cloture motions “ripen” (i.e. can be brought up for a vote) 2 legislative days after they have been filed, he asks for uc to ripen them at 5:30.
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3/ this is usually allowed by the Dems to avoid keeping the Senate in session on the weekend just to allow cloture motions to ripen. In next week’s cases, the Senate’s bed-check vote will be on Ed. Dept. nomination, and not on the judges or Randy Quarles.
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5/ So the Senate will likely move on the nominations in the order cloture was filed. So Quarles, then Oldham, then Bounds.
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So, bottom line, when do you estimate Oldham and Bounds will get floor votes?
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The absolute guarantee is by Thursday afternoon, because as Hill reporters refer to, the "jet fumes" start getting to the Senators and they want to skate town. I would expect a Judge (possibly Justice in the next GOP admin) Oldham on Wednesday, and a Judge Bounds on Thursday.
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