Dems Go Nuclear!

President Barack Obama and the Democrats had enough of the Republicans stalling his nominees. They passed filibuster reform. The process from now on will require a simple majority when confirming federal nominees. It won't apply to passing bills in the Senate. Sorry, conservatives you'll need 2/3 vote to repeal Obamacare.

Thanks to the Republicans and their ongoing obstruction, the Democrats are now forcing upon the nuclear option. Too many nominees were being stalled by the Stallmigos and Team Oppostition.

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) told the Republicans "you're done". Enough is enough!

Janet Yellen was being stalled by the Senate because she's a woman. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.

The nuclear option, called the constitutional option by some proponents, is a generic term for a set of parliamentary maneuvers that could be used in the United States Senate to achieve approval of certain motions by a majority vote, rather than the "super-majority" required by current Senate rules and precedents.

The nuclear option has arisen in reaction to the frequent use of Senate rules by a minority of Senators to block consideration of a nominee for an Executive Branch or judicial position (or less frequently, a bill or resolution). Between the 1970s and 2013, threats by the majority party to use some version of what is now known as the nuclear option resulted in some changes to Senate rules and practices to limit opportunities for blocking nominations, without actually invoking the nuclear option itself.

In November 2013, Senate Democrats used the nuclear option to eliminate filibusters on executive branch nominations other than those to the Supreme Court.

The "nuclear option" is a vote by slight majority party.

November 21, 2013, the Senate voted 52-48 (along party lines with the exception of 3 Democrats who voted with the Republicans) to eliminate the use of the filibuster against all executive and judicial presidential nominees (other than to the Supreme Court). This was a rare instance of the so-called nuclear option.
The Democrats' stated motivation for this change was the expanding Republican usage of the filibuster without always stating an objection to the particular nominee, such as for nominations to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[86] Republicans had asserted that the D.C. Circuit was underworked,[86] and also cited the need for cost reduction by reducing the number of judges in that circuit.

As of November 2013, President Obama’s nominees had faced 79 votes to end debate (called "cloture" votes), compared to just 38 during the preceding eight years under George W. Bush.

However, most of those cloture votes successfully ended debate, and therefore most filibustered nominees cleared the filibuster hurdle; Obama won Senate confirmation for 30 out of 42 federal court nominations, compared with Bush's 35 out of 52.

Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC) was being blocked by Republicans to head up Federal Housing Administration.

From this point on, if a nominee is being held up since 2009, the Democrats will just go ahead with simple vote by 51. If the candidate hasn't withdrawn or placed on hold, they'll be easily confirmed.

Congressman Mel Watt (D-North Carolina) will resign from his Charlotte area district to head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which among other agencies, administers or has oversight for the FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

Janet Yellen is an American economist and professor who is the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Previously, she was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, and Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business. On October 9, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Yellen to be Chair of the Federal Reserve. If confirmed, Yellen would be the first woman to hold the position.