UPDATE: The Washington Post is now reporting that Senate leaders have reached a compromise. The Washington Post’s story can be found here.
As we reported last week, the Senate has been headed toward a showdown over President Obama’s nominees to the NLRB that have been held up by Senate Republicans. It now appears that a deal that will save the filibuster may be at hand. Numerous sources report Senators are “close” to a deal that would avoid the nuclear option. Although no deal has been confirmed, the reports are that Senate Republicans would agree to remove blocks on seven of the President’s nominations in exchange for the withdrawal of the nominations of Sharon Block and Richard Griffin to the NLRB. The President would name two other members and Republican leadership would agree not to block votes on those two new nominees. Whether this turns out to be a good deal for employers may well depend upon who those two new NLRB nominees turn out to be. While the deal saves the rights of the minority for another day, it could well turn out to be buying a pig in a poke, depending upon who those two new Board members are.
