What was known as the nuclear option yesterday is known as the Reid Rule today . Time will only tell if the Reid Rule is productive or destructive . But we 'll leave that to the historians . As for how it became the Reid rule , it took a coordinated and sustained effort from an unlikely place -- progressive activists on the blogosphere . After Sen. Ted Kennedy died in 2009 , Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate -- enough to overcome a Republican filibuster -- progressive bloggers felt compelled to act against what they called `` Republican obstructionism . '' The Senate , still with a huge majority of 59 Democrats , coupled with a Democratic majority in the House , struggled to pass legislation . The power of the Republican minority was outsized , filibuster opponents say . And filibuster reform became their mission . Daily Kos blogger David Waldman started to drum up support online . `` I knew that this would be an issue because I had seen mounting threats of obstructionism on the Republican side , '' Waldman told CNN . 5 ways life changes in the Senate after nuclear option . He wrote extensively about filibuster reform in 2005 , another time when the Senate was mired in partisan gridlock . At that time it was over President George W. Bush 's judicial nominees and Democrats were in the minority . Republicans threatened the nuclear option then , but never acted . Eventually , the bipartisan `` Gang of 14 '' senators cut a deal that calmed things down . In the Obama era , Waldman argued that the use of the filibuster grew out of control . After blogging about the ability of the Republican minority to block legislation and presidential nominations , Waldman knew grassroots activists could only do so much . While they could engage fellow activists , he was n't so sure he could convince senators , especially the veterans steeped in Senate tradition and reluctant to change the ways of the past , that change was possible . There was precedent . But Waldman knew that things could change . As draconian as the Senate could be , he knew the Senate had changed in the past . Senate historian Donald Ritchie believes that although the first filibuster took place in the very first Congress , the word filibuster was not used until the 1850s . At that time , there was no way to stop a rogue senator from holding up business until 1917 when senators voted to change the rules to allow a cloture vote , which enabled 67 senators to defeat the stalling tactic . What is the nuclear option ? The filibuster was famously used to block two different versions of the Civil Rights Act . Former Sen. Strom Thurmond 's successful 24-hour talkathon helped to kill civil rights legislation in 1957 . Sen. Robert Byrd , D-West Virginia , tried the same tactic in 1964 . His 14-hour filibuster was part of a 57-day-long stalling effort that , ultimately , was not effective in killing the legislation . The next major change to the filibuster came in 1975 , when the threshold to stop a filibuster was lowered from 67 lawmakers to 60 . Growing support . Waldman and his co-conspirators formed a strategy referred to as an inside-outside coalition . The outside consisted of the grassroots , charged with motivating progressives to sign petitions and call their senators . The inside , Waldman said , needed to sway senators . It would need to consist of people senators knew and trusted . He had to convince a diverse group of advocates that climate change , immigration , the judiciary , and the economy all had one thing in common : The filibuster blocked their legislative goals . `` Getting them to recognize outside their issue silo there 's this one issue frustrating all of you '' was key to success , Waldman said . That 's when Fix the Senate Coalition formed . The Sierra Club joined on . So did the NAACP and the Communications Workers of America , just to name a few . CWA President Larry Cohen said it was clear something needed to be done . For instance , Obama did an end run around Republican opposition to the appointment of Ricard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . A circuit court ruled that the appointment was illegal . Cohen said those actions were `` connected '' because Republican opposition kept the President from filling the four circuit court vacancies . `` That 's the torturous route that brought us to agreement , '' Cohen said . Cohen said he and the coalition of groups persuaded two million of their members to either call , e-mail or write their senators pushing for filibuster reform . The man who coined the term 'nuclear option ' regrets ever pursuing it . He also said that at the NAACP conference this summer , around the time the Senate was on the brink of invoking the nuclear option , leaders paused the program for attendees to call their senators to end the filibuster . Things started to shift when Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid became warm to the idea . At first Reid was reluctant , but when handshake agreements with his counterpart , Republican Leader Mitch McConnell , did n't stick , Reid became more open , eventually turning his threats of nuclear option into reality . While it only applies to presidential nominees , it excludes legislative matters . Advocates , however , say this is a good start . `` I might be destroying the Senate , '' Waldman said on his radio program Thursday just before the Reid pulled the trigger . But he quickly dismissed that assessment : `` But it kind of sucks now . ''
The progressive blogosphere had a major role in invoking the nuclear option . A coalition of labor and environmental groups urged 2 % Americans to fire their senators . Momentum returned when Senate Majority Leader Reid became warm to the idea .