Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and Republican Party guru, was
quoted in the NY Times threatening that the Senate would completely sidestep the need to obtain Democratic Consent on President Bush's judicial nominees:
[Norquist] ... warned that if the Democrats continued to hold up White House nominees, Mr. Bush might simply evade the confirmation process by putting his nominees in place while Congress was in recess, as he did with two judges during the last Congress.
"If the Democrats want to change the rule to require 60 votes," Mr. Norquist said, "the Republicans will change the rule to require no votes."
Republicans will evade the rules so that no Dem votes are required? That's an outrageous statement that confirms the Democratic contention that Republicans have lost normal restraint and are abusing their power.
What prompted this wild outburst by Norquist? Democratic Senators Clinton, Murray, Nelson, and Boxer are holding up the nominations of a pair of Republican nominees.
Update [2005-4-8 19:35:49 by Curt Matlock]:
EPA has now canceled the pesticide testing program in a clear victory for Senators Boxer and Nelson.
When Senator Bill Nelson of Florida stepped before the microphones Thursday to announce that he would use "every parliamentary procedure that is available to me" to block the nomination of Stephen L. Johnson to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, he became the latest Democrat this week to stand in the way of President Bush's nominees.
On Wednesday, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, declared she would put a hold on Mr. Johnson's nomination, delaying a Senate vote indefinitely. That same day, two other Democrats - Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York - announced that they would hold up confirmation of Dr. Lester M. Crawford, the White House nominee for commissioner of food and drugs.
The procedural tactics, coupled with stiff Democratic opposition to the nomination of John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, amount to a mini-war against some of Mr. Bush's nominees.
Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Patty Murray both want action from Dr. Crawford on the morning after pill before they will allow his nomination to proceed.
Barr's (BRL: news, chart, profile) bid to allow Plan B sales without a prescription has been denied once before during a two-year process, over the favorable recommendation of the FDA advisory committee, and the senators said they were dissatisfied with Crawford's evasive stance.
"He didn't really give an answer as to why it was taking so long, which was part of her concern in the first place," said Murray spokeswoman Alex Glass. "He said it's basically being moved from desk to desk. ... This is an issue of public confidence in the independence of the FDA."
Senators Clinton and Murray want the FDA to base its decisions on science, not ideology. There is good reason to believe that Crawford doesn't see things that way. For this they are threatened by Norquist and the Republican leadership.
In the other nomination battle, Boxer and Nelson placed a hold on the nomination of Stephen Johnson to head the EPA. Johnson refuses to stop a program that is testing pesticides on children.
Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Barbara Boxer of California expressed their "shock and disappointment" Thursday in Johnson's failure to condemn an EPA program testing the effects of pesticides on children. They said that until he agrees to cancel the program, they're placing a hold on Johnson's nomination, preventing him from getting a vote on the Senate floor.
"If EPA can get away with testing babies, infants, then they can get away with anything when it comes to human testing of toxics," said Boxer, who added that when she questioned Johnson about the program and whether he would agree to cancel it, Johnson flatly refused.
"This is sick, it's a sick, sick thing," she said.
More from ABC News on the program:
The study is to determine how pesticides, which can cause neurological damage in children, and chemicals such as flame retardants, might be ingested, inhaled or otherwise absorbed through food, drink, soil, crop residue and household dust.
EPA had planned to give participating families $970 plus a camcorder and children's clothes, but critics inside and outside the agency said that might encourage low-income families to use pesticides in their homes. The two-year study was to be conducted on the families of 60 children in Duval County, Fla.
Making a deal to expose your children to potentially harmful chemicals by offering $970 and free gifts is cynical and obscene. Is there any doubt that only the poor will take this deal? Would Stephen Johnson allow the same testing on his own children? Boxer and Nelson are right to make an issue of this and deserve support in their efforts.
Grover Norquist seems to believe that these Democratic Senators are acting outside of their authority by using Senate rules to delay and question the President's nominees. Of course, they are doing no such thing and are instead rightfully upholding the right of the Senate to give advice and consent on nominees. Norquist has stepped far over the line in suggesting that Republicans can legislate away a Constitutionally provided privilege that all Senators enjoy.
For my own part, I believe the American people would have no trouble figuring out who to blame if Republicans overstep to the point that they evade or rewrite rules to require zero votes. Nothing could better illustrate to normal Americans the naked power grab envisioned by power-drunk Republicans and their radical right-wing supporters.