Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said he and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will discuss what Democrats will do in the upcoming weeks so their members do not provide a quorum during confirmation proceedings of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Durbin told the Washington Examiner on Monday he knew of no strategy by Democrats to boycott a final floor vote of Barrett’s confirmation and said he planned to cast his vote during the final floor vote.
Schumer, though, already declared on Sunday that his caucus would not provide a quorum for votes to advance Barrett’s confirmation in an effort to postpone the confirmation before the election.
“We will talk about it when the actual vote occurs in committee and on the floor. Democrats will not supply the quorum,” Schumer said. “Period.”
However, on Tuesday, Durbin indicated to the Washington Examiner that the confirmation environment appears to be changing because Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham is speeding up the hearing schedule.
“Well, the landscape is changing since we spoke because Lindsay’s come up with an accelerated schedule on the hearing. So I haven’t had a chance to — Schumer wants to talk to me tonight, we haven’t — I haven’t decided what I’m going to do,” Durbin said.
A quorum is the minimum number of lawmakers necessary for a committee or a full Senate to conduct business and hold votes. The Senate needs 51 members present to have a quorum, while the Senate Judiciary Committee requires nine members, including two in the minority party for a quorum.
Although the minority can use certain procedural tactics to delay the final confirmation vote, Republicans still hold a 53-seat majority and vote on a discharge resolution, which would advance Barrett’s nomination from the committee to the floor for a final vote.
Alternatively, the Judiciary Committee, with a GOP majority, could change the rules related to requiring two members of the minority as necessary to provide a quorum.
Durbin later, at a press conference Tuesday night, said no decisions have been made about whether any Judiciary Committee Democrats will boycott the committee vote to advance Barrett’s nomination, but he would discuss the issue later that evening with Schumer.
“We’ll talk about the next step. As I mentioned to you earlier, Chairman Graham has decided to accelerate one of the stages of the hearing, and I don’t think we’ve had a conversation yet ourselves as to how to react to it,” Durbin said.
He added, “They are just hell bent on getting this done as fast as possible. That’s because at least four of them have death-defying reelection campaigns. They want to get out of town as fast as they can.”
