Note: The video above is from Tuesday’s Senate confirmation hearing. Because of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s move to file a cloture, there is no Senate hearing April 5. It will resume April 6 with a vote on the cloture.
With a Senate vote looming, the drama continues to intensify in the battle between the GOP and the Democrats in Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Watch a live stream of the Senate floor discussing Gorsuch’s confirmation in the video above.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday filed cloture on Gorsuch’s nomination debate because of the threat of a filibuster by Dems. That brings the confirmation vote one step closer, as the Senate Judiciary Committee already voted to approve Gorsuch on Monday.
The Senate will now vote to invoke McConnell’s tactic or not Thursday, needing 60 votes for it to happen. But it appears the GOP is well short of that, and Senate Democrats have vowed to filibuster the nomination.
With that in mind, McConnell and the other Republicans have said they will change the confirmation rules by voting for the “nuclear option” if necessary. If that option is approved with a vote, Gorsuch — and all other executive nominees — would just need a simple majority for confirmation, not the 60 votes previously required.
Of the members of Senate, 41 Democrats have already said publicly they will vote against ending the debate, NPR reported.
But if the cloture goes through, the Senate would have 30 more hours of debate — all of which Democrats are prepped to use. That would push a vote to confirm Gorsuch to Friday, with 51 votes needed for him to be the newest member of the Supreme Court.