McConnell filed cloture on Neomi Rao's nomination to serve on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, paving the way for the Senate to try to confirm her next week.

Rao cleared the Judiciary Committee along party lines last week.

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No Democrats supported Rao in committee and none have said they will vote for her on the Senate floor. If they are going to sink Rao's nomination they would need to flip four GOP senators as well as keep their own caucus united.



Rao, who serves as Trump's regulatory czar, was grilled by Democrats and Republicans during her hearing about controversial college writings including a 1994 opinion piece for The Yale Herald in which she appeared to argue that women are partially to blame for sexual assault.



Rao wrote at the time that if a woman “drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was a part of her choice.”