GOP’s all-nighter a filibuster buster

Republicans accused Democrats yesterday of obstructing vital Senate business, such as creating a prescription-drug benefit plan, developing an energy bill and passing crucial spending bills in its final sprint toward the end of this session.

“We need to work efficiently, we need to work with a lot of focus, we need to stay on schedule,” Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, said of the Senate’s packed schedule between now and Nov. 21, the targeted adjournment date. “We can’t have unnecessary delays if we are to complete the nation’s business.”

So Mr. Frist scheduled 30 hours of debate, beginning tonight and running all day tomorrow, on a batch of President Bush’s judicial nominations that has been filibustered, slow-walked or otherwise stalled in the Senate by a group of 45 unwavering Democrats.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to be starting what I call a reverse filibuster,” said Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican and conference chairman. “We are going to do everything we can to do what they’re doing.”

That includes hoping to catch Democrats asleep at their desks in the middle of the night to sneak a final vote on one of the nominees currently under filibuster.

“We’re going to the floor, we’re taking opportunities — any opportunity,” Mr. Santorum said. “They are forewarned: If the floor is not protected,” the nominees will be put up for a final vote.

Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, and other leaders of the judicial nomination filibusters said the Republicans’ 30-hour debate — complete with cots rolled in and all-night snacks and coffee — wastes valuable time that should be spent on backed-up Senate business.

“Republicans are consumed by those four [judicial] jobs and ignore the three million jobs that we’ve lost over the course of the last three years under this administration’s economic policies,” Mr. Daschle said.

Those four filibustered nominees to whom Mr. Daschle referred include Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen and federal district Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi, both nominated to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor, nominated to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Daschle also referred to the filibuster against Washington lawyer Miguel A. Estrada, who was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit but withdrew his name earlier this year after two years of delay and eight months of filibuster.

In addition, there are several more nominees that Democrats are threatening to filibuster.

Mr. Daschle released yesterday a list of nominees from Democratic presidents that he said had been filibustered by Republicans. Five of the six listed ultimately were confirmed, prompting Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, to issue a statement wishing that Mr. Bush’s nominees were mistreated the same way.

Mr. Cornyn also dug up some quotes from 1999, when Mr. Daschle begged Republicans to give President Clinton’s nominees a final vote.

“I find it simply baffling that a senator would vote against even voting on a judicial nomination,” Mr. Daschle said when the tables were turned.

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