The Senate was able to avoid a controversial showdown as Democrats were prepared to force a change in filibuster rules, something they referred to as the "nuclear option," if a compromise could not be reached. A bipartisan agreement was made allowing for presidential nominees whose confirmation Republicans opposed to finally take office, according to the Washington Post.
A deal struck between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., paved the way for Richard Cordray to be confirmed as the leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In exchange for Republicans agreeing not to filibuster Cordray's nomination Democrats agreed to settle on different nominees for the National Labor Relations Board under the condition that Republicans will not fight their nominations next month, the Washington Post reports.
All of the Senate was invited to a Washington rarity last night, a bipartisan meeting, in order to find a compromise to avoid the nuclear option.
"I hope that everyone learned the lesson last night, that it sure helps to sit down and talk to each other," Reid said. "It was a very, very good meeting."
The compromise seems to truly benefit both sides. The Democrats win by having their appointees to key agencies confirmed, thus allowing those agencies to go about their business. The Republicans win because they are able to get rid of the NLRB nominees they opposed, Sharon Block and Richard Griffin, according to Politico.
"It's a step in the right direction that the majority has chosen not to exercise the nuclear option," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "We feel good about that, I think they feel good about it, so I think that crisis has been averted."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was a key contributor in the deal just as he was in creating the bipartisan immigration bill that passed the Senate. Schumer spoke to Politico about how Monday night's meeting helped bring the two sides together.
"Everybody saw we were so close - it would be a shame to have an armageddon, if you will, when we were so close," Schumer said. "This morning is when the deal was crystallized. When we woke up this morning, we weren't sure we had it."
President Barack Obama is expected to name Nancy Shiffer and Kent Hirozawa as the two new nominees to the NLRB, according to Politico.
