Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has the votes to bust a planned Democratic filibuster of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee as a showdown nears that could change the Senate, and the court, for generations.
The Kentucky Republican says Democrats "seem determined to head into the abyss. They need to reconsider."
Democrats are making clear they have no plans to do so, and are blaming Republicans for pushing them to attempt a nearly unheard-of filibuster of a qualified Supreme Court pick. Forty-four Democrats intend to vote against proceeding to final confirmation on Neil Gorsuch, which would be enough to block him under the Senate's existing filibuster rules.
But McConnell intends to change the rules to require just a simple majority to back Gorsuch and all future Supreme Court nominees.
