Vice President Pence hopeful that Senate GOP won't need to 'go nuclear' over Gorsuch

JUDYWOODRUFF: So Democrats say they are going to look at his record, and they have a lot
of questions.
They want to see if he's in the mainstream.
If they decide to slow this down, this process down, should the Senate majority leader, Mitch
McConnell, go ahead and change the rules so that instead of 60, which it is now, votes
required, it would only take 50, the so-called "nuclear option"?
We know the president said this morning, "Go ahead and go nuclear," he said to Sen. McConnell.
Do you think that's what he'll do?
VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: President Trump and I, and our whole administration are extraordinarily
enthusiastic about the opportunity to see Judge Gorsuch confirmed by the Senate.
It's one of the reasons why I accompanied him to Capitol Hill today to get those conversations
started.
But let me also say we're very heartened by the response now of seven Democrat members
of the Senate who've said that they believe the judge deserves an up or down vote.
And I do believe that as Judge Gorsuch travels across Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead, sitting
down with Republicans and Democrats, they're going to see what the president saw.
Someone who is a first-class intellect, a fourth-generation Coloradan, and someone who
in a fair and impartial way is going to uphold the Constitution and apply the law as written.
We believe that he'll get that same level of consideration that the nominees in the
first term for President Clinton received, the nominees for President Obama received
in their first term.
WOODRUFF: So you don't think the Senate Majority Leader McConnell will have to resort to the
so-called "nuclear option"?
PENCE: I'm hopeful that he doesn't.
I'm hopeful that he doesn't.
The president and our entire team are committed to supporting Judge Gorsuch's nomination.
But I do believe that when you look at those first-term nominations of President Clinton
and of President Obama, none of those were filibustered.
All four received broad bipartisan support.
And all were considered and resolved in the Senate in a matter of 60 to 70 days.
I do believe that once members of the Senate in both parties have a chance to sit down
with Judge Gorsuch we're going to see the same bipartisan support.

Vice President Pence hopeful that Senate GOP won't need to 'go nuclear' over Gorsuch

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