The Senate will vote this week on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday.
“Let me make it very clear. The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close. Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination is out of committee. We’re considering it here on the floor,” McConnell said. “We’ll be voting this week.”
The Senate will first need to vote to cut off debate on the nomination before reaching a final confirmation vote. According to The Hill, if McConnell waited until Friday to file cloture on Kavanaugh’s nomination that would set up an initial vote on ending debate as early as Sunday. If McConnell filed cloture before that, he could bring up the vote as soon as the Friday deadline passed or when the FBI wrapped up its investigation.
McConnell said Kavanaugh was “rightfully angry” after Thursday’s raucous Judiciary Committee hearing. The nominee forcefully and tearfully denied the assault allegation by Christine Blasey Ford, who testified earlier in the day, and separate claims by two other women who weren’t called to testify.
The Senator’s comments, made during a Senate floor speech, come as the FBI is rushing to wrap up its investigation into multiple sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh by Friday. GOP senators and aides have been careful not to pin down a specific timeline on Kavanaugh’s nomination, arguing that the FBI could wrap up its work before the Friday deadline.
McConnell’s pledge that the Senate will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination comes as Trump’s nominee remains short of the simple majority needed to be confirmed. Republicans hold a narrow 51-49 majority meaning they can lose one GOP senator before they need help from Democrats to confirm Kavanaugh. No Democrats have said, yet, that they will support him.
GOP senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski remain undecided on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Sen. Jeff Flake said last week that he would support Kavanaugh, but he was key to getting the one-week investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh.
Over the weekend, Flake said that he expected to support Kavanaugh unless the FBI finds something in its investigation.
via RSS https://ift.tt/2y4Vvv4 Tyler Durden