WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday pushed forward with his effort to change Senate rules as part of a Democratic effort to limit Republican opposition to Obama administration nominees for regulatory office.

“We’re going to make a simple change,” Reid said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What we’re going to do is say in the future…if you want to look at a nomination, simple majority, that’s what we need.”

At issue is a legislative battle over the Senate’s responsibility to approve or reject a president’s nominees to lead regulators such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created after the 2008 financial crisis to write rules for mortgages and other consumer credit products. The change would affect only regulatory agency nominees.

“We’re not touching judges,” Reid said.

The battle comes after Obama’s nominee to head the bureau, Richard Cordray, and some other regulatory nominees failed to win the filibuster-proof 60 votes needed to be approved by the Senate in efforts over the past couple of years.

Reid (D., Nevada) is reportedly set to release the so called “nuclear option” which is a legislative maneuver that would allow 51 senators to change the Senate rules instead of the 67 that are normally required.

Democrats currently hold a 54-46 majority counting two independents who normally vote with Democrats.

Deploying the option would allow Cordray and a number of Obama nominees to be approved by the Senate because it would only require a simple majority vote. Read nuclear flashback: When Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell sang different tunes on filibustering and the nuclear options

However, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R., Ken.) said Sunday that he hoped major changes can be averted. McConnell said there will be an “unusual” session of all senators on Monday, where Cordray’s nomination and other controversial nominations will be discussed. Read about a bank regulator who worries Cordray’s votes could be thrown out

“The reason we call it the nuclear option is because it’s breaking the rules of the Senate in order to change the rules of the Senate,” he said.