WASHINGTON -- The Senate sergeant-at-arms carried Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., into the chamber early Wednesday in a move to round up recalcitrant senators absent from a debate over a Democratic campaign finance reform bill.
Sergeant-at-arms Henry Giugni said the move was 'embarrassing' but necessary after a motion by Senate Democratic leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia passed the Senate 45-3 ordering his office to locate senators not in attendance for the late-night filibuster being waged by Republican senators against the legislation.
'I served him his warrant; he didn't want to come,' Giugni said. 'There was no enjoyment. I had to shove in the door to get in his door and I think he hurt his finger.'
Guigni said he was able to persuade Packwood to walk across the street to the Capitol but then four Capitol employees carried the senator into the chamber.
Democrats said the order was needed to get a sufficient number of senators to continue official business.
It was not clear when the Senate last made the rare move of ordering its sergeant-at-arms to 'arrest' absentee senators, but staffers said a warrant issued in 1980 was never served.
After Packwood and Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., arrived in the chamber, the Senate had a quorum and was able to continue business. Guigni said he hoped he would not have to make another such 'arrest.'
Republicans generally characterized the order as an attempt by Democrats to harass GOP members who left Capitol Hill earlier Tuesday evening when their leaders told them they would not be needed for the filibuster, which could last into the early morning hours.
'It's harassment,' said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. 'It's just nonsense.'
Asked for his reaction, Sen. Daniel Quayle, R-Ind., said: 'Expletive deleted.'
The order to the sergeant-at-arms came as Senate Republicans talked late into the night Tuesday to block action on the campaign finance reform bill, which would limit contributions from political action committees and set voluntary ceilings on spending by congressional candidates.
Working in teams, GOP members droned on at length on the largely deserted Senate floor in an effort to talk the legislation to death while Democrats kept watch for a lapse that might allow them to call for a vote.
Byrd forced Republicans to keep talking by keeping the Senate in session despite the increasingly later hours. Byrd hoped to wear down the Republicans and break the filibuster, clearing the way for a vote.
But acting GOP leader Alan Simpson of Wyoming said Republicans were up to the challenge, whatever the fatigue or physical discomforts they might face.
'We are ready to go all night,' he said. 'We are ready to go all day. We will have our SWAT teams and our people on vitamin pills.'
While the Republicans talked, workers rolled out the sleeping cots in a caucus room off the Senate floor in anticipation of an all-night marathon.
The round-the-clock session was Byrd's latest gambit to break GOP opposition that has stymied the campaign reform bill since last spring.
Byrd tried seven times last year to shut off debate on the legislation, but he has been unable to muster the 60 votes needed to do so. Democrats hold only 53 seats in the Senate, meaning they need several GOP votes to invoke cloture.
Boren, sponsor of the bill, met with Republican leaders over the past few days in an effort to work out a compromise bill, but key disagreements remain.
'I have seen no evidence that the Republican group is willing to deal with the real fundamentals of campaign reform,' Byrd told reporters.
As a result, Byrd said he was ready to start playing political hardball.
'There is no point in having an easy, gentlemanly filibuster back in the cloakrooms,' Byrd said. 'Let's have it out right here on the Senate floor where the American people can see it. Let's let the American people ponder this: Do they want their U.S. Senate seats up for sale?'
In particular, Byrd hoped to pressure Senate Republican leader Robert Dole of Kansas, who is out on the hustings campaigning for president.
But GOP leaders said Byrd's pressure tactics would not work, with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., calling the threatened all-night session 'a silly exercise.' McConnell said Byrd's threat had only 'firmed up' the Senate GOP's opposition to the bill, making defections less likely.
Republicans object to sections of the bill that would set voluntary spending ceilings for campaigns that would vary according to the size of a state. For general elections, the ceiling would range from $950,000 in the smallest states to $5.5 million in the largest.
If one candidate in a race refused to abide by the spending ceiling, the bill seeks to compensate an opposing candidate who does accept the cap by providing taxpayer money for his campaign, just as presidential candidates now can get.
Candidates who agree to spending limits also would be eligible for reduced mailing and media advertising rates.
Boren and Byrd have identified the spending limits and the enforcement mechanism providing public financing as essential elements for any meaningful reform bill.
But Republicans contend a spending limit would be an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of political expression and that public campaign financing is a wasteful and improper use of taxpayer money.
