Ezra Klein: “What’s so odd and interesting about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s threats to eliminate the filibuster on executive-branch nominees is that the… majority is considering rules changes precisely because there’s nothing more the minority can obstruct that they really, really care about.”

“These aren’t usual times in the Senate. So far as Reid is concerned, Republicans have already killed pretty much everything else the Democrats might want to do. When he’s been confronted with the argument that Republicans might bring everything to a stop if Democrats change the rules, I’m told Reid’s reply is sharp: ‘And that would be different how?'”

Roll Call: Reid defends his threat to go nuclear on filibusters.

“A confrontation in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats over the confirmation of President Obama’s cabinet nominees edged closer on Thursday toward a showdown over changing the rules on filibusters,” the New York Times reports.

“After a tense exchange on the floor with his Republican counterpart,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “planned to recommend to his fellow Democrats at a private lunch meeting that they should vote to take the exceptional step of barring the minority party from filibustering presidential appointees.”

Greg Sargent has a good road map of how he expects thing to unfold if Democrats use the nuclear option.

A close aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who co-wrote the senator’s 2011 book “spent years working as a pro-secessionist radio pundit and neo-Confederate activist, raising questions about whether Paul will be able to transcend the same fringe-figure associations that dogged his father’s political career,” the Washington Free Beacon reports.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will be the lead sponsor of a U.S. Senate bill to ban abortion after an unborn child is 20 weeks old, the Weekly Standard reports.

“With Rubio’s presence, the bill is certain to gain enormous media attention and thus more national visibility for the issue of limiting late term abortions. Right-to-life groups have urged Rubio to take the lead on the issue, believing he would be the strongest possible advocate in the Senate. Several sources confirmed he’d agreed.”

The Week: How Rubio blew his immigration moment.

Sen. Mark Udall’s (D-CO) brother, James Udall, “is missing after going on a solo hike in Wyoming,” Politico reports.

“The 61-year-old, who goes by Randy, was trekking in the Wind River Range and was supposed to come out of the mountains last Wednesday but never did. An experienced hiker, this wasn’t the first time James Udall had gone solo into those mountains.”

“If you can’t learn to compromise on an issue without compromising yourself, you sure as hell should never be in the legislative body. Every document of this country was a compromise. Go home and bitch and raise hell around the city council or something. Go haunt someone else. But you should never come to Congress. And you should never get married.”

— Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), quoted by Time.

“I’ve always had the belief that age is just chronology. I know people who are 50 who are older than I am.”

— Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), quoted by the Washington Post, on turning 80 over the weekend.

The Newark Star Ledger profiles Sen. Jeffrey Chiesa (R-NJ), “an affable career prosecutor appointed by Gov. Chris Christie (R) to watch over the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) seat until mid-October.”

“Chiesa is relying on a hybrid staff — made up of former employees at the attorney general’s office, people he hired when he was Christie’s chief counsel, and veteran Washington hands like Ken Lundberg, former communications director for recently retired Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — to helps him navigate the Capitol’s secret passageways, centuries-old rules and the current blizzard of bills.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “starkly warned Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) not to eliminate the filibuster on presidential nominations, warning that he’ll end the 60-vote threshold for everything, including bills, if becomes the majority leader,” TPM reports.

Said McConnell: “There not a doubt in my mind that if the majority breaks the rules of the Senate to change the rules of the Senate with regard to nominations, the next majority will do it for everything.”

Greg Sargent: “It’s being privately discussed at the highest levels of the Democratic Party: The passing of Senator Frank Lautenberg has cast doubt on the ability of Senate Democrats to exercise the so-called ‘nuclear option‘ and change the Senate rules via a simple majority.”

“Here’s what this means: A very plausible scenario being mulled by top Dems is that the prospects for changing the rules may rest on a tie-breaking Senate vote from Vice President (and Senate president) Joe Biden.”

Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) son Tanner used Twitter to threaten the “faggot” who stole his bike that he “will find you, and … will beat the crap out of you,” joked about an acquaintance stealing one-liners because he’s Jewish, and went by the name “n1ggerkiller” in an online game, BuzzFeed reports.

Said Flake: “I’m very disappointed in my teenage son’s words, and I sincerely apologize for the insensitivity. This language is unacceptable, anywhere. Needless to say, I’ve already spoken with him about this, he has apologized, and I apologize as well.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) appointed state Attorney General Jeff Chiesa (R) to fill the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) seat until the upcoming October special election, the Newark Star Ledger reports.

“Christie’s announcement at a hastily arranged news conference ended days of intense speculation over whom the Republican governor would appoint to serve nearly five months before voters elect a replacement for the 89-year-old Lautenberg, who died Monday. ”

Newark Star Ledger: “Jon Corzine has kept a low profile since facing allegations that his mismanagement expedited the downfall of the commodities brokerage MF Global. But the embattled former governor broke his silence today to eulogize his friend and Senate colleague U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) died at age 89, the New York Times reports.

Lautenberg “died as a result of complications from viral pneumonia at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell, his office said. He had decided not to run for another term next year.”

“Rubio’s articulate. I met him once, maybe twice. My brother likes him, so I like him.”

— Former President George W. Bush, quoted by the Huffington Post, on his impressions of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Senate Republicans “who shared laughs with President Obama over dinner at the Jefferson Hotel in March are grumbling there has since been little follow-through from him on deficit talks,” The Hill reports.

“They say the White House has not set up a process for negotiating controversial reforms to Social Security, healthcare programs and the tax code, and that absence of basic organization has stalled negotiations.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) took to the Senate floor to respond to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) charges that he doesn’t know how Congress works.

Said Lee: “In case no one noticed, the way Washington works stinks.”

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A clearly frustrated Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) lashed out at Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on the Senate floor suggesting, “Maybe the senator from Utah ought to learn a little bit more about how business has been done in the Congress of the United States.”

[Read more…]