New GOP Senators May Back Filibuster Limits

Amid talk about a renewal of bipartisanship in the new Congress that convenes next week, two new Republican senators said Sunday that they could support a rule change to short-circuit opposition to President Bush’s judicial nominees -- a move that one incoming Senate Democrat warned would spark “a bloody fight.”

The exchange among the three newly elected senators on CBS’ “Face the Nation” reflected a sense among many Republicans that they should flex their muscle in the 109th Congress, with the party’s expanded majorities in the Senate and House, even as Democrats were debating among themselves when to work with the administration and when to oppose it.

Sen.-elect John Thune (R-S.D.) said he wanted to put an end to the Democratic tactic of filibustering high-profile judicial nominees -- which involves essentially talking the nominations to death without allowing an up or down confirmation vote.

Senate Republican leaders, bolstered by the party’s Nov. 2 victories, are weighing a move to deny Democrats the right to filibuster judicial nominees indefinitely in the coming Congress. The issue is especially sensitive since Bush’s announcement last week that he would renominate seven people for appellate courts who were stymied by filibusters during the last Congress -- and in light of the possibility of upcoming Supreme Court vacancies.

“I’m open to supporting that kind of a rule change where judges are concerned,” Thune said. He acknowledged that it would be “somewhat controversial, and everybody would argue, and certainly the minority would argue against that.”

Sen.-elect Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), appearing with Thune, said he too would seek to end “apparent obstruction” by Democrats. “I think if it continues, then we have to look at those rules and some of the precedents that exist to move these appointments to the floor and have them debated for confirmation,” Isakson said.

But Sen.-elect Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) said a Republican bid for a rule change would poison the atmosphere of the Senate just when Bush was seeking to move a second-term agenda.

“I think it’s going to be a bloody fight,” Salazar said on the CBS show, “and I would hope that it can be avoided, and I would ask my colleagues to try to avoid that in the U.S. Senate. I think that the best thing to do is for the president to have consultation both with Republicans and with Democrats prior to making the appointments.”

Under Senate rules, a minority of at least 41 senators can uphold a filibuster indefinitely. It takes 60 votes to shut off debate and force final action on nominations or legislation.

Thune, Isakson and Salazar were interviewed nine days before they were scheduled to be sworn into six-year terms. They will be joined by six other newcomers in the Senate, most of them Republican. Thune, of South Dakota, toppled Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as the Republicans scored a net gain of four seats in the chamber.

In the new Congress, Republicans will control 55 Senate seats and Democrats 44, with one independent who leans toward the Democrats. In the House, Republicans will have a 232-202 majority, also with one independent who leans Democratic. The House GOP majority will be three seats larger than it was during the last session.

Thune said the election results meant that any legislation to reform Social Security -- Bush is advocating a partial privatization of the government pension system -- would come from “the center-right side of the political spectrum.” He added: “But that isn’t to say that there can’t be a ... moving to the middle.... It’s important that Congress, the administration, while we have this window of opportunity just after an election, work across party lines in a bipartisan way to try and accomplish some reforms in Social Security.”

One prominent House Democrat, Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York, echoed the call for bipartisanship.

“You cannot find a Democratic or Republican solution to the problem of Social Security,” Rangel, his party’s ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, told CNN’s “Late Edition.” “Nor can you simplify the tax code unless there’s some unity.” Rangel said presidential outreach was key and that Democrats would be waiting for specifics.

Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), appearing with Rangel, praised the Democrat’s comment. “We’re beginning a new Congress,” said Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee. “The president is beginning his new term, and in light of that, we want to come together.”

But a pair of outgoing Senate veterans, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” warned that bipartisanship was easier to embrace than to achieve. Daschle, Thune’s defeated foe, said he was struck by the fact that several Republican senators who telephoned after the election to offer condolences on his loss insisted that their names not be made public.

“It was nice of them to call,” said Daschle, who served 18 years in the Senate. “I just felt sorry for them that they felt somehow as if they had to ask me to keep this conversation private. I think that it was yet another -- probably the final illustration of how in some ways the town can be too mean.”

Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), who is retiring after four terms, said: “It’s gotten too partisan, and there’s no doubt, and hopefully it will change back.” Nickles, noting that he had witnessed five switches of party control during his tenure, warned that Republicans could find themselves in the minority in the future. “So people need to remember that, and they need to get along,” he said.

Nickles lamented the proliferation of partisan clashes on routine Senate business. “We shouldn’t be filibustering every bill, nor significant appointments,” he said. “That undermines some of the collegial atmosphere in the Senate. But we need to work together more.”