Reid: There’s still time for compromise

Benjamin Grove

Monday, May 23, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is poised to set an "illegal" precedent by obliterating the filibuster with the so-called nuclear option, "a precedent that will eliminate the essential deliberative nature of the Senate," Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Sunday.

In a sharply worded commencement address at George Washington University here, the Nevada senator said Frist's intent was "contempt for the rule of law and the law of rules."

But Reid also signaled that there was still time today for a last-minute compromise that would avert Frist's use of the "nuclear option" on Tuesday. The maneuver would change the function of the Senate, Reid said.

"We need to withdraw from the precipice and forge a bipartisan compromise to resolve this matter," Reid told more than 500 law school graduates at the university where he earned his law degree in 1964. "As an attorney, one of the lessons you will learn in arriving at a fair compromise or settlement is that a fair settlement must cause pain to each participant."

A group of about a dozen Republican and Democratic senators have been working to forge a compromise, but it was difficult to know what a final round of negotiating today might yield, several senators said.

"It's very hard to handicap it at this point in time," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said on CNN's "Late Edition." "But we'll certainly know tomorrow evening" after the centrist group meets for a final time.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it has been difficult for the two sides to come up with language for an agreement that would give both sides what they want: Democrats want the nuclear option scrapped; Republicans want Democrats to never filibuster nominees.

"It's tough," McCain told "Fox News Sunday."

At issue is the nomination of seven Bush judicial nominees who were rejected by Democrats in the last Congress but re-nominated this year by Bush. Republicans on Tuesday are poised to use the "nuclear option" to change a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to halt a filibuster, a delaying tactic. That would clear the way for confirmation votes on the nominees in the 55-Republican Senate.

At the center of the debate is Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court judge nominated for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has become the test case for the nuclear option. Debate on her nomination continued today in the Senate.

Today, in brief remarks on the Senate floor, Reid said he was still hopeful that six Republican senators would vote with Democrats to preserve filibusters.

"I feel that there are Republicans of good will who are willing to be profiles in courage and step to this well tomorrow and say, 'We can't do that,' " Reid said.

Reid began his commencement address by telling the graduates that he had not been back -- or even returned a letter -- from the university since he left campus 41 years ago.

"I've been holding a grudge," Reid said.

Reid said that he had harbored ill-will toward the school since he had sought the advice of a law school dean when he was a struggling full-time law student. Reid had mounting bills, a pregnant wife and was nearly broke, he said. His broken-down Buick could no longer get him to a full-time job as a U.S. Capitol police officer.

The dean's advice? Quit school.

"His words stung and they stuck with me for many years," Reid said.

"In retrospect, I should have gotten over it sooner," Reid said, to some laughter.

"I'm sorry I didn't. So I apologize to the entire faculty, administration and all of the law students for my pettiness. Because that's not how I've tried to live my life."

Reid offered his own advice to the graduates, which were also aimed at Frist.

"My advice is that you play the game hard, but play by the rules. And if the game goes against you, work harder, train harder, and play again. My further advice is that you always strive to win but only win fair and square. Because otherwise, the game isn't worth the prize.

"And whatever you do, don't quit."