First Word: Richard Cordray close to being confirmed

The Senate voted 71 to 29 on Tuesday to end debate and proceed to a vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In order to get around Republican filibusters, Democrats have threatened to change Senate rules to lower the threshold for the president’s executive nominees from 60 votes to 51. Cordray was first nominated in July 2011 but Republicans have since been blocking a vote because they wanted to witness changes to the CFPB before confirming any nominee to lead the agency.

Recommended

Maddowblog

Republicans shrug off laundry list of scandals, advance Emil Bove’s judicial nomination

Steve Benen

Maddowblog

As the Senate advances a plan to end the government shutdown, what happens now?

Steve Benen

• Richard Cordray cloture vote threshold passed, nomination advances in Senate

• Senate reaches tentative deal on nuclear option

• The heart of the standoff is President Obama’s picks to the National Labor Relations Board

• Obama sits for interviews with the anchors of Spanish language television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Denver

• Marco Rubio has stayed away from talking about immigration reform

• Rep. Michele Bachmann said she believes Obama could “wave his magic wand” to grant voting rights to illegal immigrants ahead of the 2014 elections

• Bachmann aide fired after theft arrest from Capitol Hill office

• President Obama and the House GOP will fight over immigration, spending and debt this fall

• Welcome to the Senate, Ed Markey

• The special election to replace Markey in the House will take place Dec. 10 with a primary Oct. 15

• A Swedish professor nominated Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize

• Rand Paul and Ted Cruz sign on to Gillibrand’s military sexual assault bill

• Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced his bid on Sunday to replace retiring Gov. Rick Perry

• Inspector General who found that the IRS targeted Tea Party groups will head to Capitol Hill on Thursday

• Virginia Dem ad slams Cuccinelli on Social Security and Medicare

• The one-year delay in ObamaCare’s employer mandate won’t have much effect on the law’s costs or the number of people it covers

• Reports: NTSB intern out of a job

• What George H.W. Bush gave to Obama

• Cory Booker hits D.C. for fundraising blitz

• San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will not step down in the wake of sexual harassment allegations

• Report: 23 mass killings in 19 states since Aurora shooting