“I suspect the reason they may be doing it is hoping Republicans overreact, and it's the only thing that they could think of that would change the conversation about Obamacare,” said Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, using the nickname for Obama's troubled health care law. “But we're not that dumb.”
Reid use of the nuclear option procedural move would allow him to change the filibuster rule with just 51 votes, meaning Democrats could push it through without Republican support. Senate rules are more commonly changed with 67 votes.
Nomination fights are not new in the Senate, but as the hostility has grown the two sides have been edging toward a collision for much of this year.
