Senate rules will be changed because the gorsuch vote was blocked, 60 votes necessary blocked. Republicans say they have no other choice, simple majority, changing the rules, going nuclear, as it were. A development behind the scenes could have you going nuclear. Talk about bodies agreement not only to proceed on health care, by greater extension with the tax cuts. Were getting late word the president is very keen on marrying infrastructure, talking of building more roads and bridges what he can do elsewhere when it comes to Getting Health Care reworked through. Mitch mcconnell in the meantime talking about this measure, to get a simple majority vote goingnd soo neil gorsuch. I raised a point of order vote on cloture on precedent set on november 21st, 2013, is majority vote on all nominations. The precedent of november 21st, 2013, did not apply to nominations to the Supreme Court. Those nominations are considered under the plain language, rule 22. The point of order is not sustained. I appeal the ruling of the chair. Madam president. The democratic leader. Parliamentary inquiry. The democratic leader will state the parliamentary inquiry. Did the Senate Precedent established on november 21st, 2013, on how nominations are considered in the senate change the cloture threshold for nominations to the Supreme Court . Consideration of nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States was unaffected by the precedent of november 21st, 2013, and is as under rule 22. Madam president , a second parliamentary inquiry . The democratic leader will state the parliamentary inquiry. In the history of the senate, have there been any instances where a nomination to the Supreme Court was withdrawn after cloture was not invoked on the nomination . The secretary of the senates office has confirmed that such a withdrawal has taken place. Thank you, madam president. Madam president , parliamentary inquiry . The democratic leader will state the parliamentary inquiry. Of the last 26 nominations of juic confirmed to e Supreme Court going back to 1954, how many were confirmed without a roll call vote or, received more than 60 votes in support of their nomination, either on cloture, or on confirmation . The secretary of the senates Office Confirms that 25 of 26 nominees were confirmed in one or another of the manners so described. Madam president , i move to adjourn until 5 00 p. M. I ask for the yeas and nays. Is there sufficient second . There is. There is . The clerk will call the roll. Mr. Alexander,. No. [roll call vote. Mr. Booker . Mr. Bozeman. No. Mr. Brown . Mr. Brrr . Neil this might seem like procedural gobbledygook to you. Chuck schumer is asking for delay getting ball rolling on this Nuclear Option, or at least setting stage for it, pushing back until at least 5 00 p. M. Republicans would seem to have votes to avoid that. Blake burman, with the with latest, theyre redaying the clock and obviously the process which republicans would go ahead on simple majority sometime tomorrow for neil gorsuch, right . Reporter right this is titfortat neil what about today . Reporter well, then you will have this presumably this vote, or at least theyill pick this up back again at 5 00 p. M. Later today, we believe. The end result of all of this, you talk about the procedural gobbledygook, at some point friday night, there will be endall vote on neil gorsuch, which he will only need, Nuclear Option will be invoked, 51 votes. There are 52 republicans in the senate. Appears tomorrow night neil gorsuch will have his confirmation. He will sail through but all of this what youre watching right now think well far past neil gorsuch. This set as brand new precedent of United States senate, relates to confirmation of Supreme Court judges this lays marker down how everything is going to happen, it appears in the years following, potentially decades following after this. Neil, i was speak, i asked White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer the other day are they comfortable with everything you are watching on your screen right now, with republicans invoking the Nuclear Option and the white houses position on this was basically, putting this on Mitch Mcconnell from the beginning. Ive asked spicer about this a couple different times. They say look, the senate runs how they run. Mitch mcconnell runs his show over there. So however the senate wants to act it is in their court. The bottom line with this Going Forward, you have heard President Trump talk about it, when you look at the grander scheme of things, as he will be the president of the United States for the next 45, 6 months, he believes potentially two or three more picks for him to make. If it does get to that point, which is a big if, battle line drawn from here on out there would on need to be 51 ves. Republicans as it stands have 52 senators. That is the longterm picture of this. The short term is that neil gorsuch, youre watching the, youre watching the sausage being made parliamentarywise, neil. This has big implications come tomorrow night. Neil we also know youre in florida, getting ready where the president will be hosting the chinese premier, xi xinping. Obviously they want other more immediate concerns how to extract better trade deals, get chinese working with us on north korea. But obviously the president s very cognizant what you said, blake. If it is just a simple majority that will decide future Supreme Court justices, no matter who is in charge they would pick someone extreme to their liking, right . If republicans charge, the mon conservative nominee. If democrats in charge the more liberal nominee, right . What goes around comes around. Go back to 2013 when democrats invoked Nuclear Option related to federal judges, not the Supreme Court. That set barrier. Fast forward some four years or so, republicans who are, we can guarranty you this, at some points democrats being in control, beck to democrats, future of history as it relates to politics, what youre watching right now, sets this precedent that for whoever the president is going here on out, donald trump over next 45 months, whoever his successor, whether four years or eight years down the line, it is going to be a 51 threshold majority. The point you make is a correct one. If a side, whether it is the democrats or republicans, has 51 or more votes, they can pick whoever they want. That plays to their base because they would not need that 60vote threshold normally would kind of bring folks more to the center to try at least get a justice that isnt on either side right or left, neil. Neil blake burman, thank you, very, very much. Were going through finetuning of this. I do want to raise a little of how this will play out timewise. They get a 30hour clock running after this. Which means sometime late tomorrow, the vote on neil gorsuch for simple majority, will likely include at least, three, maybe four democrats, will commence, meaning that sometime tomorrow evening, late tomorrow afternoon, likely evening, neil gorsuch will be confirmed by the United States senate. Oddly enough will pick up more votes than Clarence Thomas did back in the el 1990s. That was one occasion, a Supreme Court justice did not get a minimum 60 votes or voice acclamation. It was commonplace during the eisenhower years and jf kennedy years and for a while, early lbj years, nominee approved by voice acclamation. Inadvertent allly unanimous on virtually on both sides of the aisle. That was the environment then. Different now. 25 or 26 didnt have to go through that. Clarence thomas is the one standout who was dragged through a bitter, bitter partisan battle but ultimately approved as Supreme Court justice. Were keeping track of this. The reason why the markets are up, has a lot to do with this because it would be deemed through all the sausage making a w, a big win for donald trump. He has not had legislative victory, despite executive orders, executive memoranda, whatever you want to call them, very business at all that, not a win or legislative achievement he could take home. This would certainly be that. The markets are buoyed by that how inevitable that looks, occurring at same time were getting distressing news to some in the same markets who are worried about where tax reform is going. I want to explore both these issues with congressman mark sanford. He is the on the budget committee, state of south carolina. First off, on what you seeeing played out,ongressman, on capitol hill right now with neil gorsuch . Chuck schumer says look what republicans unleashed here. But it was the democrats who unleashed this back in 2013, right, by pushing this notion that you needed a simple majority to approve cabinet appointments. They at the time said it was because of republican obstinance. Be that as it may, here is where we stand right now. What do you think of this poisoned well argument that he has been raising . I mean we are where we are. The demons have already been unleashed. I dont know that you will put them back in the barn. And we have hyper partisan environment as it relates to Court Appointments these days. I nthinit is necessarily good. I think era of johnson and kennedy where there was actually a voice vote of all things. Neil right. Is a better place to be. But we are where we are. I think it is essential that this nination mo forward. I think, if i was a liberal, im not, but if i was, i would frankly be comforted by his vote because he is a strict constitutionalist. He is strictly interprets it, not as one might want it to be, but just right down the middle. So i think whether from the right or the left, this ought to be appealing candidate. Im glad he will go through. Neil to what blake burman was saying, congressman, about how this administration could conceivably looking at pigpicking a number of other Supreme Court justices. Three justices are into their 80s already, one or two into the late 70s. It is conceivable donald trump could take look of the court and complexion of thatourt andts political views and legal posture well into the, into the next few decades, right . Yeah, but i think one of the things that i think a lot of folks, from both sides of the political perspective are worried about is the way in which the executive branch has got into the role of legislating, and to a great degree the court system has done as well. The idea of going back to the original mission, and having a court that certainties a law and right down the middle, rather than coming up with fairly wild and broad interpretations would be good for each political perspective. In that regard, i dont think would be a radical change in the court, frankly going back to what it is traditionally all about. Neil as you and i chatted in the past, picks can change. In other words what you think is going to be a surefire conservative or surefire liberal, david souter comes to mind. And a st of others. Having said that, congressman, the markets are liking what appears to be a win for President Trump here by an extension, they are concerned that tax cut thing and other issues, health care rework, the president indicated he might want to marry that kind of vote with a vote on infrastructure spending, how do you feel, that gets to be dicey, that pushed the clock back a little bit . What do you think . I think that could well happen. I dont particularly like it. I like voting one subject at a time. When you marry specific subjects it gives everybody a reason to vote for it or frankly against it. I think, you know, it would be something that probably bring a number of democrats on board. I dont think it is go policy. But i think you know, you will see tax reform move forward. I think the whole hyper vent lanes weve seen hyper ventilation weve seen on whole health care slowed up is just that. This is the whole legislative process in motion. I would make one last quick point here. The bill we were going to vote on prior to that friday had seen 17 legislative days. In contrast the Affordable Care act saw 186 legislative days. Medicare partd, which president bush pushed saw 166 legislative days, they were trying to jam too much into too short of a time. I think you will see a health care bill. I think you will see a tax bill. Neil if we dont see one relatively soon, the health care thing, i mean it is very possible, congressman, that the tax cut thing gets shelved into next year, which is conceivably meaning we dont see tax cuts. Are you afraid that is possibility . Its a possibility but i believe a remote one. I think you will see something move on the health care front after coming back from the recess. I believe you will see sething on the tax front probably late summer, early fall. People originally thought it would be a summer kind of activity. I think realistically pushed back to the fall. Neil congressman, thank you for taking the time. I do appreciate it. Were watching this drama lay out. I could get involved in the weeds tell you what is going on. It is delaying, not denying judge gorsuch from becoming next Supreme Court justice of the United States, an event that will play out more formally tomorrow night. Beyond this sort of byzantine kabuki theater of the province of the senate. This it is this, the nuclear on, stronglworded say the simple majority will vote for the Supreme Court justice,hat is going to ppen. The delay, theyre putting up a lot of roadblocks coolingoff perioduntil 5 00 p. M. No guarranty that will happen. Sometime tomorrow night, judge gorsuch will be on h wray to the Supreme Court. Stick around. Youre watching fox business. Neil two developments were following right now. President trump will leave joint base andrews to go to palm beach, maralago, where he will kick off a twoday conference with the chinese leader, xi xinping. Indications are that could be a fairly frank discussion when it comes to trying to get the chinese to do what they can about north korea and all those missile tests and also about that gaping trade gap between our two countries. 347 billion last year. The president wants that narrowed considerably. He wants the chinese to do their part. Separately were watching settlements in the United States senate where it looks like an effort to filibuster the nomination of neil gorsuch to be the next Supreme Court justice of the United States has failed and republicans are set now any minute to go ahead and just, go on a simple majority vote here. And if that is the case, neil gorsuch would almost invariably confirmed tomorrow some time. Estimated to be sometime tomorrow night. The reason why we keep harkening back to the markets liking these developments, would be racked up, take it as you will, the first victory for donald trump in his young presidency here. A win is a win is a win and maybe those in the markets hope this will translate to similar success on the legislative front with the health care rework, infrastructures, even a big ol tax cut plan. The president himself intimated with the New York Times and others he might marry two of those, infrastructure with the health care rework. The devil is in the details. In the everchanging views from the white house how to proceed with this, even among republicans who arent too hot to trot with the infrastructure part of this. Again the focus right now getting neil gorsuch through. Republicans are saying democrats forced this on them. If it were not for that move some years back with harry reid to approve cabinet appointees and subcabinet appointees by simple majority rather than 60 votes we wouldnt be here. They are upset. Republicans are upset. They are not talking to each other. It is like an italian dinner table. Brings me to my fell paisan. Are they fighting . Neil what do you make of that argument, a win is a win and victory for the president who sorely needs one is on. What do you think . Perceptionwise i think it is a positive, by the way getting that seat fiedin my view someone who is prone to accept free markets and look at the constitution as an original document, for me personally, that is my opinion, i think its a good thing. Conservative base will be happy with that the real problem is this though. If he thinks this portends good things from democrats, getting consensus from the other party on health care and tax cuts, this shows its not there because he is going with a simple majority without any democratic votes, even for extremely qualified candidate. I mean this guy neil youre right. Tempers are such that no reconciling to it but he is throwing out there an olive branch i thought this interview in the times and elsewhere and infrastructure, tying it potentially to a health care rework again. I dont know if this whole gorsuch thing and other experience before with the Health Care Debacle is going to, you know, calm any nerves and make people more kumbayah. What do you think of that . That is a function with the fact that the as send ant wing of the trump white house, there are various factions, Jared Kushner, gary cohn faction, nec seat gary cohn, Jared Kushner his ninlaw and white house advisor considered much more liberal. They are liberal. Th is one faion. The other faction is nationalist faction steve bannon is downgraded. He he is off the National Security commission, right . Neil to your early reporting the indications were that bannon was he wanted to quit. He wanted to quit, right . Middle ground with reince priebus, who is t