Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, has reassured conservative activist
leaders that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is committed to triggering the “nuclear option,” stripping
Democrats of the power to filibuster judicial nominees.
Santorum met the leaders Tuesday to dispel growing anxiety among conservatives that Frist was wavering over
what some Republicans call the “constitutional” or “Byrd” option — a procedural tactic that
would disallow judicial filibusters by a ruling of the Senate chair and a ratifying majority vote.
Conservative alarm surged when the Republican leadership canceled a briefing of Senate staff and activists
by Martin Gold, a former Frist aide and master of Senate parliamentary procedure who is advising Republicans on the issue.
The cancellation of the special meeting, which was scheduled for the Easter recess, left some with the impression that Frist
might be backing away in the face of Democrats’ threat to retaliate by shutting down the Senate.
Business interests on K Street are urging Frist to delay the tactic because it could imperil their legislative
agenda, as The Hill reported this week.
The conservatives’ concern was also fueled by Frist’s efforts to negotiate with Minority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to find a compromise. One Democratic aide said that Frist appeared to be backing away from the tactic.
Conservatives have also expressed concern about a paucity of information about GOP plans to overcome filibusters.
GOP aides in the Senate said that they too know little about what is being planned; strategy and negotiations over the nuclear
option are closely held within Frist’s office.
A Frist aide disputed the notion that his boss was not strongly committed to the controversial tactic.
“Senator Frist has talked about this for two years, consistently and convincingly,” the aide
said.
Senate aides and activists said Frist’s chief of staff, Eric Ueland, is controlling strategy and timing
on the issue.
“We know there are some probably some faint of heart and that perhaps Mr. Frist is concerned about,”
said Connie Mackey, a lobbyist for the Family Research Council.
“I think there does need to be more communication, but mostly I think there are particular senators
holding up the process and they need to get with the party.”
Even Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), assistant majority leader, has been viewed as wavering.
“We had actually said that we were going to run ads in Kentucky some weeks back, and we got assurances
that he was ready to move,” Mackey said.
Last month, radio host Rush Limbaugh criticized McConnell after The Boston Globe reported that he had urged
restraint on the option. McConnell responded by telling Fox News that he supported the controversial tactic.
A conservative who requested anonymity for fear of angering the leadership said: “When you have conflicting
signals at this late a date, it seriously damages our coalition’s ability to support the senators in this.”
The activist said the message from Santorum was clear: “Man battle stations.”
Santorum said that he told conservative leaders, “We have to win” and “we have to
have the votes” to confirm the president’s nominees.
Two conservative activists who were at Tuesday’s meeting came away with a stronger message. According
to them, Santorum reported that the Republican Conference is of one mind and that it would move ahead with the nuclear option
in the next four to six weeks.
But a Senate aide who attended the meeting downplayed Santorum’s comments.
“The leadership is trying to do everything it can to avoid the confrontation, and he’s hopeful
the Democrats would respond in kind,” the aide said, summarizing Santorum’s comments. “He did not at all
say that we were fixing to do this at this point. He said there’s a certain inevitability if Democrats didn’t
recognize the need for some give and take.”
The different accounts of Santorum’s meeting reflect the Republican leaders’ dual tasks —
to motivate conservative groups for a showdown over the filibuster and to appear ready to compromise while negotiating with
the Democrats.
Frist and Reid spoke Monday and met yesterday to discuss the impasse. Frist has yet to give Reid any specific
proposals for compromise. Yesterday, Frist declined to reveal his timeline for negotiations or what kind of compromise plan
he may offer.
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of
the most conservative Democrats in the chamber, have negotiated over a bipartisan compromise that they could forward to their
leaders. But so far Lott and Nelson have yet to agree.
Nelson has spoken with Reid several times about a compromise that would include automatically discharging
a judicial nominee from the Judiciary Committee after an unspecified time. Any senator would then have the power to call that
nominee up for a vote on the floor after another span of time.
Lott has not agreed to the idea because it entails a permanent change of the rules and would take away the
Judiciary Committee chairman’s discretionary power over nominees, a Democratic aide said.
Republican aides and conservative activists said that the leadership is most likely to trigger the constitutional
option to force a confirmation vote on circuit court nominees Priscilla Owen or Janice Rogers Brown.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has placed Owen on the agenda for a committee business meeting this week
and scheduled Brown for next week. That means the soonest Republicans would trigger the tactic for Owen would be April 15
and the soonest for Brown would be April 22, a GOP aide said.
By Alexander Bolton, The Hill, Apr 7, 2005
