Congress just got back from a prolonged election break, and members are already looking forward to a full week off for Thanksgiving. Which, of course they are, even though the vast majority of their constituents do not have that same vacation luxury. The problem, however, is how much they want to accomplish between Nov. 28 and Dec. 21, when they’re scheduled to break again for the holiday week. The problem is also in how much they need to get done before Christmas, and where they’re setting priorities.
For example, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the number two Democrat in the Senate, told reporters Wednesday that there just won’t be time for Congress to make sure that the biggest hostage of them all—the debt ceiling—is secured safely away from Republicans. House Republicans have made it clear that they will refuse to lift the debt ceiling unless they can force cuts to Social Security and Medicare. It’s not an idle threat: They mean it, and have reiterated it multiple times.
Instead of dealing with the debt ceiling now and defusing that time bomb, Durbin’s top priority is pushing through dozens of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees. It’s not an unimportant thing—these judges need to be confirmed. But should it come before saving Social Security and Medicare from becoming Republican hostages in their threats to blow up the economy?
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“I want to do this for my colleagues who have worked on these for months and they shouldn’t face more delay. We have more than 100 vacancies on the federal bench,” Durbin said.
Those nominations that don’t get confirmed before the end to the year would have to go through the process again, though it could be significantly shortened if Democrats get that all-important 51st Senate seat in Georgia, in Sen. Raphael Warnock’s runoff race. That will be decided Dec. 6. With that 51st seat, Democrats would have complete control of the Judiciary Committee—of all the committees, actually—instead of having to deal with a 50/50 power-sharing agreement in which Republicans can obstruct and delay.
The fact that Senate Democrats are returning to the majority, however, makes it slightly less critical to get this work done, vs. House Republican-proofing everything else. After all, the Senate needs nothing from the House to push nominations through.
It would seem to make a lot more sense to have a very concerted push right now to do all the stuff that they need a Democratic-controlled House to accomplish, while they’ve got it. Cut short Thanksgiving week, get there on Mondays and leave on Friday evenings, and do the stuff that needs to be done. Then judges. This is not to say they are not important: It’s about taking care of all the other business.
Then, hopefully with the assistance of Sen. Raphael Warnock returning in that 51st seat, speed up the process for filling up every single vacancy and balancing out the damage Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell wrought on the federal judiciary.
That’s the charge from Demand Justice: “President Trump set a modern record for the most circuit judges (54) and most district judges (174) confirmed in a single presidential term. President Biden can surpass this, but only if Senate Democrats confront Republicans’ procedural obstruction, and only if active judges seize the opportunity to create more vacancies.”
They’ve got two years to do that, and without the need to attempt a serious legislative agenda (because the House Republicans aren’t going to be serious about legislation), there will be ample floor time to do it.
To make the most of that time, however, there’s going to have to be a change from Durbin. He’s going to have to drop the courtesy of giving Republicans the chance to veto district court nominees from their home states. This “blue slip” tradition, thus named because the paper that senators use to signal their support for a nominee is blue, needs to go. It’s needed to go since McConnell and his scorched-earth agenda for the courts began. Just this session, Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson withheld the blue slip for a district court candidate he recommended for the job!
Getting rid of blue slips for district nominees would be a huge win for moving Biden nominees through and undoing some of the Trump damage. But before that, end the debt ceiling threat! However much time it takes, it’s worth it.
We're now in the second week of election overtime and there are still plenty of major races yet to be decided—as well as tons more great news for Democrats to exult over on this week's episode of The Downballot. On the uncalled races front, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard dive into a pair of House races in California and several legislatures that could flip from red to blue, including the Pennsylvania House. Speaking of legislatures, the Davids also go deep on what the astonishing flips in Michigan will mean for progressives and particularly organized labor.