It real;ly appears this loophole argument has just been made up out of a thin air because the loophole is never identified in any article on the subject. In point of fact, Reid was always going to hold votes on the nominations at issue and nothing was going to stop him from doing so.
I tend to agree. Sounds kind of stupid reasoning.
I think, what everyone keeps harping about is... by keeping the Senate open longer, it allowed Reid to go into executive session, where they could advance the nominations of several Obama appointees.
Big whooping deal... Appointees deserve a vote, up or down, anyway..... I don’t care if they got advanced.
They still have NOT been confirmed.
How could delaying a vote give them more time with other matters ? You would think it would give them less time.
'Some officials said Cruz was personally informed by GOP aides that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was primed to take advantage if he went ahead.
Under the Senate's rules, Cruz's maneuver allowed Reid to begin the time-consuming process of confirming nominations on Saturday at noon — when lawmakers had been scheduled to be home for the weekend.
Had Cruz not made his move when he did, according to officials in both parties, Reid would have had to wait until Monday night — more than 48 hours later. Disgruntled Republicans said they felt confident that Reid's rank and file would not have been willing to remain in Washington in that case, and only four or five nominees would be confirmed instead of 23.'
The procedural "maneuver" is the cloture vote. Reid needs 48 hours advance notice for calling a cloture vote. They are arguing, falsey, that Cruz gave Reid the time he otherwise would not have had to call for the cloture vote while whipping for the nominees.
The truth is that Reid controls the agenda and could have kept the Senate in session for as long as he needed for cloture. They are playing up the false sense of urgency of letting the Senate recess for Christmas as the reason that Reid was backed into a timing corner until Cruz mucked things up.
Also, the media and Democrats are helping McConnell to demonize Cruz.
-PJ