Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Already paying off

It's worth noting that if Harry Reid had not nuked the filibuster for nominees, Janet Yellen may not have been confirmed. Two months ago a 56-26 vote would not have been good enough.

Of course, it's also possible that if 60 votes was still the threshold, the vote might have gone a little differently. Maybe more of the 18 Senators who didn't show up to vote would have voted in favor if they knew approval depended upon it. But I think it is more likely that Yellen would have been filibustered and Obama could have had to either nominate someone else, cut a deal to drum up more GOP votes, or risk another possibly invalid recess appointment.