Dem
51
GOP
49
As we noted yesterday, the Democrats have cooked up some procedural magic that will allow them to break Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-AL) blockade of military promotions. The blue team will need roughly 10 Republican votes to make it work, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) clearly thinks he has them, or he wouldn't be promising so cavalierly that the matter is about to be resolved.
There was further compelling evidence yesterday that the game is up, and it came from Tuberville himself. In a meeting with his fellow Republican senators, he advised that he's not going to let Democrats embarrass him, and that "I got y'all into this mess. I'm gonna get you out," making clear that he's going to bring about a resolution before one is forced upon him.
It is hard to imagine what Tuberville's "plan" might be, besides "surrender." That is to say, there's no clever or tricky way that we can think of to say "I'm not going to block the promotions anymore" other than to say "I'm not going to block the promotions anymore." He may come up with some sort of political theater, so he can save face, and pretend that he was the one in control the whole time. It will be interesting to see what that is, if anything, but whatever may come to pass, it's clear that he knows he's lost. Just like he did 99 times as a football coach. (Z)