Senate Pulls All Nighter on Post-Nuclear Nominations

As if things could get even more log-jammed in Congress, the Senate grinds to a virtual halt

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Susan Walsh / AP

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2013.

The Senate tucked in for an all-nighter on Wednesday night, hunkering down for what could amount to several days of little-to-no-sleep — no small feat for some of the Senate septuagenarians.

In what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office called a Republican “temper tantrum,” the GOP delayed votes on Nina Pillard, one of three of President Obama’s nominees to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The court currently has eight judges out of a bench of 11. Republicans argue the court’s workload doesn’t warrant a full compliment of 11 judges, fearing Obama will stack the court for a generation — the DC Circuit Court is considered the second most important court in the land and a feeder bench to the Supreme Court.

“Professor Pillard may be a fine person, but she is not someone who should receive a lifetime position on the second highest court in the land,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “She will be confirmed, however, because of the Democrat Majority’s power grab.”

Reid last month invoked what has commonly come to be known as the “nuclear option,” changing the Senate rules so that some of the President’s nominees could be approved by a simple majority vote. The option is thus named because it so curbs the rights of the minority party that when it was first proposed in 2005, it was said it would blow up the Senate, thereby going “nuclear.” Certainly, the Senate tonight is fulfilling that dystopian pledge. Given the rule changes, Republicans have little hope of eventually stopping Pillard, but are forcing Democrats to stay up all night in protest. 

“The Republican caucus [is] stalling for no other reason other than to stall for time,” Reid said in a speech late Wednesday on the floor. “No wonder the American people look at the Senate as a dysfunctional body.” There are dozens more nominations Senate Democrats hope to get through before the holiday break, including that of Janet Yellen, the president’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve Board.

Cloture, which avoids a filibuster by limiting debate to 30 hours per nomination if Republicans run out the clock, has been filed on the first 10 on the below list of nominees. If the GOP doesn’t yield back time, the Senate will stay in all-night session straight through Saturday night on the first 10 nominations alone.

Also pending before the Senate is the Farm Bill, the annual National Defense Authorization Act and a budget compromise that would avert another government shutdown this January.

  1. Executive Calendar #378, Chai Rachel Feldblum, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (8 hours);
  2. Executive Calendar #330, Elizabeth A. Wolford, of New York, to be US District Judge for the Western District of New York (2 hours);
  3. Executive Calendar #347, Landya B. McCafferty, of New Hampshire, to be US District Judge for the District of New Hampshire (2 hours);
  4. Executive Calendar #361, Patricia M. Wald, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (8 hours);
  5. Executive Calendar #348, Brian Morris, of Montana, to be United States District Judge for the District of Montana (2 hours);
  6. Executive Calendar #349, Susan P. Watters, of Montana, to be United States District Judge for the District of Montana (2 hours);
  7. Executive Calendar #358, Deborah Lee James, of Virginia, to be Secretary of the Air Force (8 hours);
  8. Executive Calendar #444, Heather Anne Higginbottom, of the District of Columbia, to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources (8 hours);
  9. Executive Calendar #406, Anne W. Patterson, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Ambassador, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Near Eastern Affairs) (8 hours);
  10. Executive Calendar #450, Jeh Charles Johnson, of New Jersey, to be Secretary of Homeland Security (30 hours).

EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS

AIR FORCE

#44 to be Brigadier General – Col. Scott C. Long

ARMY

#144 Colonel Joseph J. Heck – to be Brigadier General

CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD

#189 Richard J. Engler – to be a Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board for a term of five years

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

#303 Kenneth J. Kopocis – to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

MORRIS K. UDALL AND STEWART L. UDALL FOUNDATION

#334 Charles P. Rose – to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring May 26, 2019

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

#356 Jessica Garfola Wright – to be Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

#358 Deborah Lee James – to be Secretary of the Air Force

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

#359 Frank G. Klotz – to be Under Secretary for Nuclear Security

PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD

#361 Patricia M. Wald – to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for a term expiring January 29, 2019

MORRIS K. UDALL AND STEWART L. UDALL FOUNDATION

#362 Mark Thomas Nethery – to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2018

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

#367 Suzanne Eleanor Spaulding – to be Under Secretary, Department of Homeland Security

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

#371 Michael L. Connor – to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

#372 Elizabeth M. Robinson – to be Under Secretary of Energy

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

#378 Chai Rachel Feldblum – to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for a term expiring July 1, 2018 (Reappointment)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

#379 James Cole, Jr. – to be General Counsel, Department of Education

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

#380 Michael Keith Yudin – to be Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

#387 Katherine M. O’Regan – to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES

#388 Wanda Felton – to be First Vice President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States for a term expiring January 20, 2017 (Reappointment)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

#390 Jo Ann Rooney – to be Under Secretary of the Navy

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

#391 Jamie Michael Morin – to be Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, Department of Defense

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

#403 Frank A. Rose – to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Verification and Compliance)

#404 Tomasz P. Malinowski – to be Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

#406 Anne W. Patterson – to be an Assistant Secretary of State (NearEastern Affairs)

#407 Rose Eilene Gottemoeller – to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

#408 Crystal Nix-Hines – for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

#409 Pamela K. Hamamoto – to be Representative of the United States of America to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, with the rank of Ambassador

#410 Adam M. Scheinman – to be Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, with the rank of Ambassador

#412 Brian A. Nichols – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Peru

#413 Mark Bradley Childress – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the United Republic of Tanzania

#414 Carlos Roberto Moreno – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Belize

#415 John Hoover – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Sierra Leone

#416 Timothy M. Broas – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of the Netherlands

#417 Donald Lu, of California – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Albania

#418 Robert A. Sherman – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Portuguese Republic

#420 Thomas Frederick Daughton – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Namibia

#422 Michael Stephen Hoza – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Cameroon

#423 Eunice S. Reddick – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Niger

#424 Karen Clark Stanton – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

#425 Matthew T. Harrington – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Lesotho

#426 Dwight L. Bush, Sr. – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Morocco

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

#427 Nanci E. Langley – to be a Commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission for a term expiring November 22, 2018

#428 Tony Hammond – to be a Commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission for a term expiring October 14, 2018 (Reappointment)

THE JUDICIARY

#429 William Ward Nooter – to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for a term of fifteen years

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

#430 Terrell McSweeny – to be a Federal Trade Commissioner for the unexpired term of seven years from September 26, 2010

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

#431 Robert Michael Simon – to be an Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy

#432 Jo Emily Handelsman – to be an Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

#433 Kathryn D. Sullivan – to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

#438 Amos Rojas, Jr. – to be United States Marshal for the Southern District of Florida for the term of four years

#439 Peter C. Tobin – to be United States Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio for a term of four years

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

#440 Daniel W. Yohannes – to be Representative of the United States of America to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with the rank of Ambassador

#441 Elizabeth Frawley Bagley – to be an Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sixty-eighth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

#442 Theodore Strickland – to be an Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sixty-eighth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

#443 Stephen N. Zack – to be an Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sixty-eighth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

#444 Heather Anne Higginbottom – to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources

#445 Sarah Sewall – to be an Under Secretary of State (Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights)

#446 Richard Stengel – to be Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy

PEACE CORPS

#447 Carolyn Hessler Radelet – to be Director of the Peace Corps

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

#448 Anthony Luzzatto Gardner – to be Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

#449 Amy Jane Hyatt – to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Palau

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

#450 Jeh Charles Johnson – to be Secretary of Homeland Security

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

#451 Jon M. Holladay – to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Agriculture

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

#452 Janet L. Yellen – to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of four years

JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

THE JUDICIARY

#330 Elizabeth A. Wolford – to be US District Judge for the Western District of New York

#347 Landya B. McCafferty – to be US District Judge for the District of New Hampshire

#348 Brian Morris – to be United States District Judge for the District of Montana

#349 Susan P. Watters – to be United States District Judge for the District of Montana

#350 Jeffrey Alker Meyer – to be United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut

#382 Brian J. Davis – to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida

#383 Timothy L. Brooks – to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas

#384 James Donato – to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of California

#385 Beth Labson Freeman – to be US District Judge for the Northern District of California

#386 Pedro A. Delgado Hernandez – to be US District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico

#434 Carolyn B. McHugh – to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit

#435 Pamela L. Reeves – to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee

#436 Vince Girdhari Chhabria – to be US District Judge for the Northern District of California

#437 James Maxwell Moody, Jr. – to be US District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas