Republicans Say Have Votes to Ban Filibusters
By Thomas Ferraro
Sun Apr 24, 7:22 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans have the votes to ban any more Democratic procedural roadblocks against President Bush's judicial nominees, a top Republican said on Sunday.
A spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada promptly questioned the claim, while another Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, floated a possible compromise to avert a fight that could bring the Senate to a near halt.
There was no immediate response from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. But a spokesman for the Tennessee Republican reiterated that Frist planned to present Reid with a "comprehensive proposal" within a week to 10 days.
The key question is whether Republicans can muster the support needed to change Senate rules to ban procedural roadblocks known as filibusters against judicial nominees.
"There's no doubt in my mind, and I'm a pretty good counter of votes ... that we have the votes we need," Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told CBS's "Face the Nation."
Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat appearing with McConnell, said conservative Republicans including former Senate leader Bob Dole "have urged the Republican leadership today to think long and hard about doing what they want to do."
Democrats blocked 10 of Bush's judicial nominees during his first term while they helped confirm about 200 others. Bush renominated seven of the filibustered nominees after winning re-election in November.
Biden, appearing on ABC's "This Week," said, "I think we should compromise and say to them that we're willing to -- of the seven judges -- we'll let a number of them go through, the two most extreme not go through and put off this vote" to end the filibuster.
Fifty-one votes would be needed in the 100-member Senate to ban judicial filibusters.
While there are 55 Senate Republicans, about a half dozen or so have been seen, at least publicly, as undecided. Many have voiced fear such a rule change could hurt them in a future Democratic-led Senate.
"No one knows for sure what the vote will be, other than that it will be very, very close," said Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman.
Reid has vowed to retaliate by invoking other procedural measures that would tie the Senate into knots.
'WHAT'S FAIR'
Sixty votes are needed to end a filibuster.
Republicans say all nominees deserve a confirmation vote, while Democrats say the filibuster must be maintained as a tool by the minority to check the power of the majority.
Frist, seeking to bolster support among lawmakers as well what polls show to be a somewhat divided public, urged Americans on Sunday to tell their senators to permit votes on all judicial nominees.
"Tell them to do what's fair," Frist said in a prerecorded address for a nationwide telecast organized by Christian conservatives and entitled, "Justice Sunday -- Stopping the Filibuster Against People of Faith."
Frist said emotions "are running high on both sides," and that "there is a need for more civility in political life."
The Senate Republican leader said, "I've been trying to work out a compromise," but "it's not easy."
"My Democratic counterpart, Senator Reid, calls me a radical Republican," Frist said. "I don't think it's radical to ask senators to vote."
beta.news.yahoo.com |
