The Patriot Post® · Democrats' 'Nuclear Option' Backfires

Democrats will have a tough time staving off a Republican takeover as the Trump administration prepares to send cabinet nominees for Senate review. But here’s the kicker: “they have only themselves to thank for it.” That’s how The Washington Post characterizes the Democrat Party’s new quandary.

You see, in 2013 then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sought to quash Republican “obstructionists” who were getting in the way of Barack Obama’s agenda by implementing the “nuclear option.” The move eases the approval process by doing away with the 60-vote requirement in lieu of a simple majority (the only nominees to whom the change does not apply are Supreme Court justices). Three years later, the strategy is working against the very ones who enacted it.

Of course, the retiring Reid, who was downgraded to Senate minority leader last year, remains unabashed in his decision. According to his spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman, “Sen. Reid has no regrets on invoking the nuclear option because of Republicans’ unprecedented obstruction. The nuclear option lets presidents show their true colors and guarantees a nominee a fair up-or-down vote. If Republicans want to go on record supporting radicals, that’s their decision and they will have to live with it.”

But his successor holds a different view. Incoming Minority Leader Charles Schumer says, “I wanted 60 for Supreme Court and Cabinet, but I didn’t prevail.” He promised to fight Trump nominees nevertheless: “If it’s somebody who is out of the mainstream, we’ll fight tooth and nail and use every tool we have.” Except that’s easier said than done.

“The problem is,” the Post explains, “those tools are now severely limited. It would fall to Republicans to join Democrats to stand in the way of any Trump appointment deemed objectionable. … Republicans warned at the time that Democrats were making a mistake with what they called a ‘power grab,’ warning they would be sorry about the change when they eventually found themselves in the minority. … In 2013, then-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned the GOP could easily seize power back in the 2014 elections — which they did, securing the majority in the Senate. And that’s now what’s happened.”

This year Democrats expected to control the Senate and possible the House, with President Hillary Clinton at the helm. None of that happened, and now their own rules change will make it easier for Trump to fill his cabinet. Oops.