Frist, Hagel face filibuster fallout in 2008

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Rumor of a deal
The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported Monday that a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Ben Nelson, D- Neb., and Sen. Trent Lott, R- Miss., was close to reaching an accord that would avert a vote on changing the filibuster rule.

The reported deal entailed an agreement by several Democrats to not filibuster four of the seven Bush nominees who were stymied last year. Democrats would also have pledged to not use a filibuster to block a vote on a Supreme Court nominee this summer.

In return a handful of Republicans would agree to not support Frist on a vote to lower the filibuster-ending threshold from 60 to 51.

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But Lott’s spokeswoman issued a statement Monday saying that Lott “has not agreed to this deal reported today….There is no deal.”

“Why would we justify throwing some nominees overboard and confirming a handful of others?” Cornyn asked reporters. “The promise to not filibuster a Supreme Court nominee is not clear – that would have to be absolutely clear.”

No 'smarmy political deal'
He added, “I don’t think he (Bush) is going to be part of any smarmy political deal. He’s going to want make sure this is resolved on a basis of principle, and one that applies not just to these nominees, but going forward”

Only one other possibility seemed to remain: that some of Bush’s judicial nominees would voluntarily withdraw their names.

Asked about this, Cornyn said, “That’s another matter. There’s another piece of the equation, that is the president of the United States, it’s not all in the hands of the Senate.”

Miranda said the idea of nominees voluntarily withdrawing would be “terrible for the Republicans, terrible for the presidency” and would make Americans “cynical.”

Miranda also urged Frist to bring Owen’s nomination to the Senate floor for debate this week, while “double-tracking,” that is simultaneous proceeding with other Senate business such as voting on the Iraq supplemental spending bill and the highway bill.

“This debate is getting a little bit stale, the GOP leadership should throw something new into the mix,” Miranda said. He said Americans either didn’t know of or had lost sight of the biographies of Owen and Bush appeals court nominee Janice Rogers Brown -- the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper -- who is now on the California Supreme Court.

In 2003 and 2004 Senate Democrats blocked up-or-down votes on ten of Bush’s appeals court nominees, by threatening to use filibusters, endless debate, to stop all Senate business. Current Senate rules require 60 votes to stop a filibuster.

The Senate has confirmed 35 of Bush’s appeals court nominees. It is those judges who are at the heart of the controversy since they issue far-reaching decisions on constitutional law, such as the 2002 ruling banning recitation in public schools of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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