Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters Tuesday that he expected a full slate of five NLRB picks would be confirmed by the end of the week.The five NLRB members were part of the deal struck last week between Reid and Republicans to get nominations moving again. However, the other nominations he rattled off were not, and at least one—Mel Watt to FHFA—has been bitterly opposed by Republicans (as opposed to being blocked just because that's what they do). Likewise, the acting director of ATF, B. Todd Jones, was passed out of the committee on a party-line vote. Those two nominees will almost certainly face cloture votes, and thus will test the new agreement.“Once these five nominations are approved by the Senate, our country will have a fully-confirmed, fully-functional board for the first time in more than a decade — a huge step forward for workers, businesses and our economy,” HELP Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said.
We have a lot of nominations we’re going to try to complete in the next seven or eight days. We have — we’re — I’m looking at the ambassador to the United Nations, [the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives],” Reid said, also mentioning the nomination of Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the head of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Which takes us back to Reid's jamming these nominations through right before recess. The agreement will much more easily pass a test if Reid can threaten both the nuclear option AND keeping the Senate from going on vacation.