(CNN) Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Senate Republican Conference on Tuesday that he now has the votes to invoke the so-called nuclear option to significantly cut back the debate time on nominations, according to a person with direct knowledge of the remarks.

This person also said that McConnell, barring an unforeseen deal with Democrats, plans to move to change Senate rules at some point after next week's congressional recess.

The rules change has been under consideration for weeks, and GOP leaders have clearly been moving in this direction, but McConnell's comments at a closed-door lunch for Senate Republicans mark the first time he'd made clear to colleagues that the votes were in place. Republicans have considered taking the action to speed up a nominations process that has been bogged down by Democratic efforts to maximize the current 30 hours of debate allowed under Senate rules after filibusters are broken. Democrats have railed against the idea, which can be implemented with a simple majority vote. It would follow a 2017 rules change pushed by McConnell that lowered the filibuster threshold for Supreme Court nominees.

McConnell has countered that Democrats are engaging in "mindless obstruction."

The rule change would lower the debate time allowed once a filibuster has been defeated from 30 hours to two hours. The change would apply to almost all judicial and executive branch nominees but not those for high-level positions such as Cabinet officials, federal appellate court judges and the members of the Supreme Court.

Read More