GOP senators and Manchin in talks to work around Cruz's ambassador blockade
CNN
A growing number of Senate Republicans are expressing deep concerns about the impact that Sen. Ted Cruz's blockade on President Joe Biden's ambassador nominees is having around the world -- and some are in discussions with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to work around the Texas conservative.
Since Cruz is objecting to quick confirmation votes for dozens of nominees, it could eat up an enormous amount of floor time to go through the full parliamentary process before getting the ambassadors confirmed.
So instead, the senators are looking to ease passage by allowing the Senate to vote on a bloc of nominees at a time -- potentially five at once. To change the rules under regular order, 67 senators would need to vote to make that happen. Or Democrats could try to change the rules along straight party lines -- a controversial move called the "nuclear option" -- but Manchin is opposed to such a partisan effort.