Republicans still refuse to approve appointment for former Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan to the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service
Expectations low for Senate session
By Geoff Earle
Chances appear dim for Senate passage of an omnibus spending measure when the Senate returns for a one-day session Tuesday.
Senate aides said not much can be done unless Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) decides to call back members for roll-call votes, which he’s reluctant to do. Still, Frist could force some procedural votes in a final effort to get the appropriations bill through before the new year.
Frist’s inability to move the $820 billion bill last week caused him to give it one more try. The House is expected to pass the omnibus bill Monday.
However, Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the bill could pass during the single-day session only by unanimous consent. A slew of Democrats stand ready to object — even though Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has said it is a priority for Congress to pass the final spending bills.
patrick g. ryan
Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid
“It’s too late to do it on time, but it ought to be done,” Daschle observed.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who objected to an earlier GOP leadership plan to push the measure through before House action had occurred, is keeping his options open, according to an aide, and could still object to a unanimous-consent request.
Frist could file for cloture on the bill. Nevertheless, he can’t do that until without triggering a roll-call vote. And Frist — who canceled the Veterans Day recess in order to push prescription drug legislation through the Senate — “is not inclined to bring people back for roll call votes,” his spokeswoman, Amy Call, said.
Democrats still suspect that Frist may try to bring the Senate back for a longer session. Frist “swore on multiple occasions that we weren’t coming back” in conversations with Daschle, a Democratic leadership aide reported.
“We’re not out sine die yet,” said the aide, referring to the final adjournment resolution. “He still could change his mind again.”
Frist also could try to seek unanimous consent to set a date for the vote on the omnibus in January. Even with no substantive action on the omnibus, nominations and a few minor bills could move before the Senate adjourns for the year.
McConnell cited his hope for approval of a bill setting the rates that companies use to set their pension contributions. Republicans will also try to clear presidential nominations before adjourning.
Republicans last week tried to move a batch of executive nominees whom they described as essential to the war against terrorism, including Homeland Security Department nominees and several ambassadors. Democrats responded by offering to move a smaller group of eight executive nominees, in exchange for moving four nominees (two Democrats and two Republicans) to the Election Reform Commission.
But the Republicans turned down the deal, saying they wanted to clear the entire calendar of about 80 executive nominations (as distinct from the calendar of judicial nominations). A Democratic leadership aide said the Democrats turned down the counteroffer because “that’s our only leverage” to force consideration of Democratic-aligned nominees to boards and commissions where specific statutes mandate minority representation.
Democrats also blame the White House for not letting the minority exercise its traditional role in recommending candidates for certain less partisan nominations. A Democratic aide mentioned the White House refusal so far to reappoint Mark Gearan as director of the Peace Corps. “They’re doing that because they don’t want true Democrats in these slots because he worked for — God forbid —Bill Clinton,” the aide said.
Republicans, meanwhile, remain frustrated by Democratic attempts to stall judicial nominees. A Democratic leadership aide said that any judicial nominees ready to be cleared would require roll call votes — effectively putting off consideration until next year.
If Congress fails to pass the omnibus, numerous federal agencies will be forced to operate on last year’s budgets. But one Democrat said failing to pass it would be a way of standing up to the White House.
“Not doing the omnibus was a victory for the legislative branch of government,” Minority Whip Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week. Reid referred to an FCC media-ownership provision that the White House was pressuring negotiators to include despite votes against it in both houses. The final bill includes a compromise provision.
“All these things should be done here on the floor,” Reid said, but the White House didn’t like the result. “They should stay out of this and stop meddling,” he said. “The White House is under the mistaken [idea] that it’s a king and his court, but it’s really three branches of government.”
Democrats, meanwhile, plan to seek unanimous consent next week to extend expiring unemployment benefits.
Without much major action next week, the Senate is facing a busy January when Congress returns. Frist is planning action on a major highway bill and a welfare reauthorization bill. Frist will also call up class-action reform, now that a compromise has been reached that appears to address the concerns raised by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others. But aides say there is no way the Senate will consider the controversial bill in December.
© 2003 The Hill
733 Fifteenth Street, NW Suite 1140
Washington, DC 20005
202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax
