WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Republican Senate leaders Tuesday continued their refusal to allow spending bills to be considered until they receive promises from the Democratic majority on the future of Bush administration judicial nominees.
Republicans claim that the Democrats have been slow to consider Bush administration nominees for federal judgeships.
The fight -- which had been brewing for several weeks -- exploded Monday evening when a Republican filibuster succeeded in stopping debate on a $15 billion foreign aid bill. The 50-to-46 vote, in which Democrats failed to get the 60 votes necessary to defeat a filibuster, set off a debate that strains the bipartisan mode that has characterized the Senate since Sept. 11.
"We'll continue to file cloture motions and try to maintain the comity and keep the spirit we've had in place the last five weeks in place," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said of his party's strategy for dealing with the delays.
Besides the Foreign Operations spending bill, Republicans have vowed to block three other major spending bills, including the agriculture bill, a District of Columbia appropriations bill and the Labor-HHS-Education bill until Democrats agree to a hearing and vote schedule for the 108 unfilled federal judgeships that remain open.
"I don't remember a log-jam like this one before," said Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, of the vacancies.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke from the Senate floor about the responsibilities of the upper chamber. "This is an essential part of our job here in the Senate, the confirming of these judges," he said.
"We must use all the time left until adjournment to remedy the vacancies that have been perpetrated on the courts to the detriment of the American people and the administration of justice. That should be a top priority for the Senate for the rest of the year."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., dismissed the claim that his party has mistreated Bush administration nominees, arguing that current events and the change-over of the majority party in the Senate earlier this year have slow the pace. He also claimed that Bush's nominees would receive fair consideration, particularly compared with the Clinton administration's judges.
"I think that when we're done ... they'll see that President Bush's nominees were treated more fairly that President Clinton's were. Having said that, I wonder what in heaven's name this masochistic attitude (is) that is holding up this bill so they can make political points on Sunday morning talk shows," Leahy said from the Senate floor.
"We had 34 months when they didn't even have hearings on judges," he added later. "We've been doing hearings every single month, whether we've been in recess or not."
Leahy and Democratic staff have also said that some nominees have been slow to return confirmation information to the committees and that standard background checks have also been delayed.
But although Republican senators continue to hold enough votes to maintain a filibuster -- at least for now -- Daschle said that some of their favorite legislation could lose a chance at consideration should the delays continue.
When asked by a reporter if he planned to schedule a debate on comprehensive energy legislation -- a topic dear to many prominent Republicans, including the president -- Daschle reminded his GOP colleagues about the power of the majority leader to control the floor.
"I am most amused about the question regarding the scheduling of energy legislation given the current tactics by our Republicans on appropriations bills," Daschle said. "As soon as they tell me when they'll stop this counter-productive effort to stop consideration of appropriations bills, I might be able to tell you when we will schedule an energy bill."
