Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) attorney general nomination has been fraught with partisan politics and gimmicks. Senate Democrats pulled every procedural maneuver in the book to delay a committee vote on his nomination. On February 1, Sessions was finally approved by an 11-9 party line vote to move his nomination to the Senate for a vote. Yesterday, a cloture motion on his nomination passed in a 52-47 vote.
CLIP: U.S. Senate confirms Sen. Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General, 52-47. https://t.co/N9qPdAy0Rf pic.twitter.com/cJkEXv2RvD
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 9, 2017
Now, after weeks in limbo, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has been confirmed the 84th Attorney General of the United States in a 52-47 vote. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) broke with Democrats to vote for Sessions.
Sessions' nomination was to be voted on first after getting the nod by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins (R-ME) decided to break ranks from the GOP on Betsy DeVos’ nomination to be education secretary.Her nomination also passed the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on a 12-11 party line vote. That forced her nomination to be pushed up on the docket.
The Senate GOP needed Sessions’ vote, as the vote on DeVos was 50-50. Vice President Mike Pence who cast the deciding vote, a first in U.S. history, eventually broke the tie.
Sessions and DeVos were seen as some of President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees. A larger fight would have occurred if it weren’t for former Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) nuking the filibuster rules for non-Supreme Court presidential nominees, which allowed cloture to be invoked and nominees confirmed by a simple majority. No doubt that both of these nominees would have been filibustered by Senate Democrats. Given how the :Eft reacted to DeVos' confirmation, expect the liberal tears to flow again with Sessions.
So, I guess we should say thank you, Harry Reid.
UPDATE: Via Twitchy, yep--liberals are freaking out.