GOP Senators Disagree Over Foster Vote

Leading Republican senators disagreed Thursday over whether the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. to be surgeon general should be considered by the full Senate. His confirmation prospects remained uncertain.

Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.)--who heads the committee considering the nomination--said that she believes he deserves full consideration by the Senate. But Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) indicated that he would not budge from his threat to keep it from a vote.

Kassebaum, who chairs the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, predicted that the nomination would survive the committee but acknowledged that Foster’s Senate opponents could tie up the nomination for months.

Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.), who is vying with Dole for the GOP presidential nomination, has threatened a filibuster to prevent Foster’s confirmation.

Dole indicated Thursday in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) that he had not changed his mind about preventing a vote.

Citing numerous instances where Democrats had thwarted the choices of Republican presidents when the party that now is in the minority controlled the Senate, Dole wrote: “Although I may not have liked any of these outcomes, it is my understanding that each of these nominations was considered in a way that was consistent with Senate rules.

“I might add that I do not recall many of my Democrat colleagues expressing the same level of concern about the disposition of these nominations as they are now expressing about the disposition of the Foster nomination,” he said.

Dole said in his letter that at least 161 Republican nominations were returned to then-President George Bush between 1987 and 1992, including those of Frank Keating, who is now Oklahoma’s governor, for a seat on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and of William Lucas, who was nominated by Bush to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

“By a 7-7 vote, the Judiciary Committee rejected a motion to report the Lucas nomination favorably,” Dole wrote. “By the same 7-7 vote, the committee also rejected a motion to report the Lucas nomination without recommendation, thereby preventing consideration of the Lucas nomination by the full Senate.”

Kassebaum, who has not indicated how she will vote on Foster, said she believes that Foster’s nomination would be reported out of the committee in a few weeks, and that there are enough votes to end a filibuster if it reaches the floor.

“I certainly will want to see this nomination go to the floor,” she said. “There probably are votes to overcome a filibuster, because my guess is that most people at that juncture would feel there should be a vote.”

Larry Neal, a spokesman for Gramm, said that the Texas senator intends to fulfill his promise to talk the nomination to death if it reaches the floor. “The Senate provides tactics by which individual senators can achieve their aims,” he said. “This is one.”

Neal said that Gramm is determined to see Foster defeated because “he does not believe that Dr. Foster is the appropriate person to hold the office. He believes that somewhere in America the Clinton Administration can find a Democratic doctor who will unite people on public health issues, rather than divide them.”

Nevertheless, the White House--which has stood firmly behind Foster since his nomination three months ago--was upbeat after Foster’s confirmation performance, where he won over at least one critical GOP vote.

“His chances significantly improved as a result of two days--very impressive days--of testimony,” said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry. “We believe the vote could be affirmative if he gets the chance he deserves.”

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Regardless of the outcome, many Democrats now believe that they are likely to gain politically from the Foster experience, since the nominee has been characterized as a responsible, well-meaning physician who performed relatively few abortions--all legal--during a lengthy and distinguished medical career.

Sen. James M. Jeffords (R-Vt.), one of several previously undecided senators on the committee, announced at the hearings’ end that he would vote to approve Foster. At least one other Republican on the panel--Sen. Bill Frist, a physician and Tennessean like Foster--appeared to be leaning toward supporting Foster.