Orrin Hatch Mans Up, Rewrites Committee Rules to Permit Votes on Nominees Despite Democratic Boycott

I guess under the rules, they couldn't vote because they didn't have a quorum or something.

After the Democrats kept not showing up for votes, Hatch must have gotten a little annoyed, because the Committee just re-wrote its rules to permit a vote without Democrats present. Brandon Finnigan is calling this a "mini-nuke," and this might be a predictor of the future with respect to Gorsuch.

So Mnuchin and Price have been voted out of committee and will now get a floor vote.

Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions was not subject to this childish boycott tactic, but all Democrats voted against him. But on a committee with a Republican majority, that means he's going to the floor for a vote.

Orrin Hatch was especially annoyed that while the Republicans were assembling for the scheduled committee vote, the boycotting Democrats were just down the hall, having a press conference/stunt.