Barrasso: Senators haven’t given up on reaching filibuster deal

“We left together in multiple discussions after the meeting in a bipartisan way,” he added. “So I think people are still looking for a solution, even this morning.”

Barrasso said senators had a “very productive” discussion last night.

{mosads}The nuclear option refers to Democratic plans to change Senate filibuster rules for presidential nominees, so they can’t be blocked by a minority. But Democrats are threatening to make this change not by a supermajority vote, but by a simple majority. Republican lawmakers oppose the move, with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) threatening that they will block any legislative work if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) follows through with his plans.

Barrasso said he met with several Democratic senators this morning, and his understanding is that both two sides are still working toward a deal.

Just before Barrasso spoke, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) offered no clues as to whether Democrats would trigger the nuclear option. When asked on C-SPAN what the path forward would be, Sanders said, “We’ll be going to the floor pretty shortly, and we will see what will happen.”

When pressed by C-SPAN host Greta Brawner on what the odds are that Senate Democrats trigger the nuclear option, Sanders said, “I think if we be patient, we’ll probably find out what will happen in a few hours.”

The Senate is expected in at 10 a.m., when it will swear in Sen.-elect Ed Markey (D-Mass.). By 11 a.m., the Senate is scheduled to start voting on motions to end debate on seven Obama administration nominees, starting with Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Barring some last-minute arrangement, failure to agree to end debate on any one of these could lead Senate Democrats to make a move to change Senate rules.