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Anonymous ID: 8a43e0 April 3, 2019, 12:59 p.m. No.6035280   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>5451 >>5881 >>5977

Senate Republicans deployed the “nuclear option” on Wednesday to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to confirm hundreds of President Trump’s nominees.

 

Senators voted 51-48 to change the rules for the amount of time it takes to confirm most executive nominations with only a simple majority of the chamber. GOP Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Susan Collins (Maine) joined with Democrats in opposing the rules change.

 

Republicans are expected to trigger the “nuclear option” for a second time later Wednesday to force through the same change for district court nominations.

 

The combined actions will result in most nominations that require Senate confirmation needing only two hours of debate after they’ve defeated a filibuster that shows they have the votes to ultimately be confirmed. Before Wednesday’s rules change they faced up to an additional 30 hours of debate.

 

Supreme Court picks, appeals court judges and Cabinet nominees will not be affected by the rules change and will still face the lengthier Senate floor debate.

 

But the move will let Republicans hit the gas on confirming nominations, a top priority in an era of divided government that has left lawmakers without big-ticket legislative agenda items.

 

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argued shortly before triggering the hardball procedural tactic that the Senate needed to go back to a “more normal and reasonable process” for confirming nominations.

 

“Our colleagues across the aisle have chosen to endlessly relitigate the 2016 election rather than actually participate in governing,” McConnell added. “This problem goes deeper than today. We’re talking about the future of this very institution and the future functioning of our constitutional government.

 

Republicans have set a record for the number of appeals judges confirmed during an administration’s first two years, but they’ve accused Democrats of using the chamber’s legislative rulebook to slow down lower-level executive and judicial nominations.

 

Of 715 “key positions” tracked by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, 435 have been confirmed by the Senate. An additional 131 are awaiting confirmation, 12 need to be formally nominated and 140 positions still need nominations….

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/437189-gop-triggers-nuclear-option-to-speed-up-trump-picks

Anonymous ID: 8a43e0 April 3, 2019, 1:05 p.m. No.6035344   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Evacuations Reported in Los Altos, California

 

Evacuations have been reported in Los Altos, California, Wednesday after a gas main broke.

 

The incident is in the area of San Antonio Road and El Camino Real. It is not clear how many buildings may have been evacuated or how many people were evacuated.

 

https://newsbreakinglive.com/2019/04/03/breaking-evacuations-reported-in-los-altos-california/