The plan is extremely unpopular.
Tully-Mcmanus 06/28, Katherine Tully-Mcmanus, BA tufts Katherine Tully-McManus is the author of the Huddle newsletter and a congressional reporter. Before joining POLITICO in July 2021, Katherine spent close to a decade covering Congress at CQ Roll Call, starting as an intern covering committee markups. She "Trying to move Tuberville," POLITICO, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2023/06/28/trying-to-move-tuberville-00103987 , HK
The Tuberville hold, over Pentagon abortion policies, is showing no signs of letting up as the chamber prepares to come back for its July session. And another run at a rules change is not in the cards. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview with Burgess last week that he wants the GOP to handle the issue – while building a bit of a pressure campaign on Senate Republicans.
“The pressure mounts each day. And I’m waiting for the Republicans to tell him,” Schumer explained. “Mitch McConnell said something negative about it. I’m hoping the pressure will mount. It’s a loser for them. It’s a loser on both fronts. It’s a loser on women’s right to choose. And it’s a loser on national security.”
McConnell has now twice dinged the idea of Tuberville holds to get a policy change, and some other Republicans have expressed misgivings about the strategy. But the reality is that pulling an end-around on Tuberville via a rules change would be all but impossible – Democrats would be challenged to muster the 50 votes they need to change the Senate rules to disrupt the Alabama Republican’s tactics.
The last time the Senate changed the rules, the chamber was in Republican hands in 2019. The GOP cut debate time on district court nominees and subcabinet executive nominees down to two hours, a change both parties have exploited. The change was deployed for several reasons: Democrats were dragging out confirmations, Republicans had just lost control of the House, and – most importantly – two more GOP Senate seats gave McConnell the votes to do it. Two GOP senators, Mike Lee of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, voted with Democrats against the rules change.