Warning to Senate Democrats: 'Don't Mess With Texas'
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
May 02, 2003
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - If House and Senate Republicans from Texas have their way, liberal Senate Democrats may regret the decision to filibuster the nomination of a Texas Supreme Court justice to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. One of those liberal Democrats Thursday bristled at the threats.
A minority in the Senate blocked a vote on the confirmation of Priscilla Owen for a second time Thursday morning, setting up a war of words between Republican congressional leaders and the leading Democrat opposed to Owen.
Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) warned that the Senate's GOP majority will not allow the so-called "gentlemen's filibuster" to continue indefinitely.
"At some point, we will force these filibusters, the two, Miguel Estrada and Priscilla Owen, because we believe so much in the right of the president to have a majority vote on his judicial nominees," she said.
Until now, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has periodically called for cloture votes on the two nominees, but moving on to other business when the cloture motions failed to receive the required 60 votes to end debate. Under the Senate rules, Frist could force the Democrats who oppose Owen and Estrada to keep at least 41 members of their coalition on the Senate floor to block votes on the nominees. If, at any point, fewer than 41 opponents were present, Frist could call the motion and move to a vote on the nominees.
Both Estrada and Owen have commitments from more than 50 senators required by the Constitution for their confirmations.
"We believe the Constitution is right in its balance of powers," Hutchison added, "and we don't think the Constitution can be changed without going through the amendment process and that's what's happening here."
Senate Democrats warned: 'Don't mess with Texas'
House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) warned the Democrats blocking the vote on Owen that their actions could come back to haunt them.
"We have a saying in Texas," he said with a smile. 'Don't mess with Texas.'
"The Texas delegation is outraged by what is going on because of the Democrats in the Senate and we will not take it lying down," DeLay said. "You will see our fingerprints and our footprints in this fight."
Asked to elaborate on his apparent threat, DeLay would say only that "other things" are available to members of the House "that we will take advantage of in the future."
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the leading opponent of the Owen nomination, said any intervention by House members on behalf of judicial nominees would constitute "an injustice to America."
"The American people sent us here, not to be a rubber stamp, but to ask about judicial philosophy," Cantwell claimed.
Rep. David Vitter (R-La.) joined his Texas colleagues in their support for Owen. He believes the Democrats' opposition to Owen stems from a desire to pack the federal courts with activist liberal judges, not any alleged opposition to Owen's so-called "judicial philosophy."
"That lie is being laid bare today," Vitter said. "It's not about process, it's not about more information and it's certainly not about qualifications. The American Bar Association has given this nominee their highest rating.
"It's about the simple fact that the Democrats cannot win on the floor of the Senate," Vitter continued. "So they are going to pervert the process and deny senators their constitutional right of a vote."
'Shut their legislative agenda down'
Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), who represents a suburban congressional district west of Houston, was more direct than his majority leader about the plans of some House members to "motivate" the Senate Democrats blocking Owen's confirmation.
"If they allow a vote, they're obviously allowing the process to work for the good of the country and if she loses a majority vote, up or down on the floor of the Senate, that's the will of the Senate," he said. "But by preventing her from even coming to the floor, they're just pursuing their own agenda.
"And if they've got an agenda back home that's important to them, we will find it and I, for one, will do everything I can to shut their legislative program down in their state," he warned.
Culberson said he would rather not have to use such tactics, but feels the Democratic minority blocking the confirmation votes in the Senate have given him and his colleagues no other choice.
"Obviously, we always want to try to work together in a way that's cooperative and focuses on the good of the nation," Culberson said.
"Since the Democrats are obviously not interested in the good of the nation and are pursuing an extremist, left-wing agenda," Culberson continued, "then I think it's incumbent on us in the House to identify every critical piece of legislation that those Democrat senators need and shut it down, not pass it and to make sure they understand that there's a price to pay for blocking someone like Priscilla Owen who's obviously so well qualified."
Culberson is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which must approve all proposed expenditures by the federal government before they can be considered by the full House of Representatives. |
