Friday, November 22, 2013

A step towards a working Washington On Tuesday we told you about a group of Senate Republicans who were holding up confirmations for important executive and judicial nominations. Since he took office, President Obama's executive nominees have faced more filibusters than in the previous 60 years combined -- an unacceptable standard of business. So yesterday, a majority of senators took a step to overcome this obstruction and made a key change to the way Washington does business: They changed the rules so that nominees (except those to the Supreme Court) can no longer be blocked by a minority of Senators from receiving a simple yes-or-no vote. As a result, it will be much harder for partisan gridlock to prevent qualified nominees from serving their country. As President Obama said in his statement: All too often, we've seen a single senator or a handful of senators choose to abuse arcane procedural tactics to unilaterally block bipartisan compromises, or to prevent well-qualified, patriotic Americans from filling critical positions of public service in our system of government. Take a minute to watch President Obama explain why the Senate's action is important. Stay Connected