Kavanaugh's nomination just moved one step closer to a floor vote
Mitch McConnell checked off a key procedural box on Wednesday night.
By Li Zhouli@vox.com Oct 3, 2018, 9:59pm EDT
Excerpt:
Shortly after the FBI sent a report to the White House detailing findings from its review of sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, McConnell filed a motion to invoke “cloture” on Kavanaugh’s nomination. That simply means that McConnell has now set up an important procedural vote to take place on Friday. McConnell also indicated that the Senate had not yet received the report though he said it expected to get it late Wednesday.
Filing a “cloture” motion is a procedural move that requires the signatures of at least 16 Senators. If it passes in a floor vote, the motion limits the debate on a bill or nomination to just 30 hours. The Senate is only able to vote on a “cloture” motion two days after it has been filed. By filing it on Wednesday evening, McConnell has ensured that the full Senate will be able to take that first procedural vote on Friday.
When the Friday vote takes place, if 51 senators vote in favor of passing it, the upper chamber will curb debate on Kavanaugh’s nomination. In case there’s a tie, Vice President Mike Pence is also able to step in and break it. Once those 30 hours of debate are up, the Senate will move to a final vote on his confirmation, likely on Saturday evening.
If the three moderate Republicans — Flake (AZ), Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) — all vote down the cloture motion, for example, that could indicate that Kavanaugh’s nomination is effectively dead in the water. It could also mean that they’d like to see debate continue for a bit longer.
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/3/17934260/mitch-mcconnell-brett-kavanaugh-cloture
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