Nevada’s senators ready to vote on impeachment

Kiley Russell

Friday, Jan. 22, 1999 | 5:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's two Democratic U.S. senators want the Senate to get on with the business of lawmaking - and they want the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton to end soon.

That means no witnesses, no further presentations and a swift vote on the two articles of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives for obstruction of justice and perjury before Ken Starr's grand jury.

"I've come to the conclusion that we don't need witnesses. It could take us into April or May," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"There is education, Medicare, welfare and appropriations bills to deal with. We have too much to do to mess with this," added Reid, who serves as minority whip, the second most powerful Democratic leadership spot in the Senate.

In order to impeach the president, Republicans need to find 67 votes, or a two-thirds majority in the Senate, where they currently enjoy a 55-to-45 advantage.

While neither Reid nor U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said how they'll vote, the decision to remove the president from office has long been expected to come down sharply along party lines - giving Clinton's foes little hope of finding the votes needed for conviction.

"My goal was to have an expeditious trial and have it fair. Prolonging this (with witnesses) won't change three votes," Reid said.

He added that after talking to several Republican senators, he thought the GOP might allow a final vote on impeachment soon - without dragging witnesses to the well of the Senate for testimony.

"I think we've got a shot at it. Sometime next week we'll see a vote up or down on this," Reid said.

Democrats generally oppose witnesses. Most would likely vote for an expected motion to dismiss the case without voting on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice regarding Clinton's efforts to cover up his affair with Ms. Lewinsky.

Sen. Bryan is also anxious to see a final vote so the Senate can get on with its business, according to an aide.

Bryan thinks House Republicans laid out some good arguments for removing Clinton, but he also thinks the White House defense cracked some holes in the prosecutor's case, the aide added.

Ultimately, Bryan's office said he hasn't seen a compelling need for witnesses and isn't convinced they'd add anything new to the case after the thousands of pages of documents and more than a week of presentations the Senate has already seen.

Bryan will have a better idea of where he stands on the vote to convict the president after Friday's and Saturday's proceedings, the aide said.