>
Article snippet: Republicans are navigating a political minefield as they try to steer the Senate toward a vote this week on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. GOP leadership wants to take up the nomination by the end of the week, and senators say they have been told to be “on call” to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination during a rare weekend session. But they’ve been wary of publicly locking down a timetable for floor action — beyond saying a vote will take place “this week.” A specific timing plan could spook swing votes and/or look like they are rushing the FBI to wrap up its ongoing investigation on Kavanaugh. Senate Majority Leader MORE (R-Ky.) dodged questions about a timeline when pressed by reporters on Tuesday. “I’m not going to answer all these hypotheticals. You all know how it works. After you file cloture you have a two-day wait, so it’s not like filing cloture produces an immediate vote,” McConnell told reporters. “What I can tell you with certainty is we’ll have an FBI report this week and we’ll have a vote this week.” Under a deal spearheaded by Sen. MORE (R-Ariz.), the FBI has until Friday to wrap up its investigation into the sexual assault allegations that have thrown Kavanaugh’s nomination into limbo. But if McConnell wants to get a final vote done by the end of the week, he would either need to file cloture on Wednesday or Thursday or get an unlikely deal with all senators. Filing cloture Wednesday would set up a vote on ending debate as early as Fr... Link to the full article to read more