Reid presses GOP leaders to abandon ‘nuclear option’

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, May 26, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is pleading with Republicans to forget about the long fight over judges and the so-called "nuclear option" so lawmakers can move on to new business.

"Americans are sick and tired of getting caught in the crossfire of partisan sniping," Reid said today in a speech at the National Press Club.

Republican leaders say they want to move on, too.

But in the fallout over a last-minute agreement reached Monday night that averted use of the controversial nuclear option, GOP leaders are signaling that the long-simmering feud over judicial nominees isn't over.

Reid said he was disappointed to go to the Senate floor Wednesday morning and hear Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., still talking about using the option.

"I again appeal to the Republican leadership in the Senate to move on and get over it," the Nevada senator told reporters gathered in his office Wednesday.

But Frist, speaking later in the day, stressed that the agreement reached Monday fell short of guaranteeing votes for all Bush nominees. The nuclear option is the only way to halt filibusters to clear a path for votes, Frist said. He made it clear Republicans could bring the nuclear option back the next time Democrats filibuster a White House nominee.

"It is on the table now," Frist said. "It is alive and well."

But Reid said today "the nuclear option is off the table."

"I hope that we can move off this battle we've been involved with now for months," Reid said after his speech today.

In his speech, Reid laid out the Democrats' agenda calling it a "reform agenda that will cleanse Washington ... and make sure that everyday Americans and their concerns get back on the congressional calendar."

"The lines that divide Congress should be between right and wrong, not right and left ... The defeat of the nuclear option shows what is possible when people of good faith -- Republican and Democrats -- join hands and put principles ahead of partisanship," Reid said.

The agenda outline by Reid included national defense, the economy, health care, energy independence and securing retirement for people.

Reid said he and Frist have been talking about how to make the Senate work to bring their agendas together.

Still in the mix is the filibuster and the nuclear option, called the constitutional option by Frist. The option is a Republican procedural tactic designed to halt filibusters with just 51 votes rather than 60. Republicans, who number 55 in the Senate, had planned to use the maneuver to pave the way for up-or-down votes on Bush's most controversial judicial nominees. Democrats strongly objected, saying it would strip the minority party of an essential tool to keep the majority in check.

A surprise agreement reached Monday night by seven Democrats and seven Republicans seemed to scuttle the controversy -- for now.

The seven Republicans agreed to oppose filibuster rule changes in exchange for the seven Democrats agreeing to allow votes on three controversial nominees and to filibuster others only in "extraordinary" circumstances. The Senate on Wednesday approved one of the three nominees, Priscilla Owen of Texas, on a 56-43 vote. Reid voted against Owen and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted for her.

The agreement did not specify how Democrats would act on two Bush judicial nominees they have opposed: Henry Saad and William G. Myers. If Democrats decide to filibuster to block a vote, a number of Republicans would like to pursue the nuclear option to force one.

Reid on Wednesday declined to discuss how Democrats would act on certain nominees.

In the deal, "extraordinary" was not defined, leaving the door open for the nuclear option to be used the next time Democrats use a filibuster to block a judicial nominee.

A majority of the 48 GOP senators who were not party to the agreement did not like the deal, Ensign said.

The agreement didn't change the belief of Republicans that all nominees deserve an up-or-down vote, Ensign said.

"In the end, elections have to mean something," Ensign said. "When a president -- Republican or Democrat -- gets elected by the American people, one of their privileges is their ability to select judges."

But Reid said the agreement allowed the Senate to move on to other business. The Senate is now free to start working on the "real problems" of workers in Nevada and across the nation, Reid said.

The Senate today was considering the controversial nomination of John Bolton to be the nation's ambassador to the United Nations, with a possible vote tonight. Reid plans to vote against Bolton; Ensign plans to vote for him.

Congress will be out next week for a Memorial Day recess. Lawmakers will have just seven weeks or so before the traditional August recess to tackle legislative business before they return in the fall to wrap up federal spending bills, Reid said.

"We've been wasting all this year on five people," Reid said of the judges fight.