From
Congressional Quarterly Today (membership only), we get some good news: Republican moderates are coming out against the "nuclear option" of short-circuiting the the
200-year-old tradition of the filibuster.
According to the CQ article:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has not sewn up enough support from his GOP colleagues for the so-called nuclear option, despite repeated warnings that he might use the arcane parliamentary maneuver to short-circuit Democratic filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees.
More after the jump.
Nevertheless, the Tennessee Republican has been dangling the possibility of such a move to put pressure on Democrats, in the hope they will abandon filibusters of judicial nominees. But Democrats show no signs of yielding.
Assuming Frist will get no support from the minority party, he can afford to lose just five of the 55 GOP senators. But Republican Olympia J. Snowe of Maine said Tuesday she is opposed to the nuclear option, as is Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
"I don't think we should move in that direction," Snowe said. "I don't think it'll be optimal for the environment."
However, John McCain of Arizona, who previously came out against the move, said Tuesday he has softened his stance to "leaning against" it, after proponents prevailed upon him to consider their arguments.
Several other Republicans -- including Susan Collins of Maine, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, John W. Warner of Virginia, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and George V. Voinovich of Ohio -- are undecided about whether to back Frist.
"I'm urging them to find a way to avoid the nuclear option," said Smith, who has said he would prefer that Frist reserve the move to break a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee.
There are several variants of the parliamentary move, but they all would hinge on a ruling from the presiding officer -- probably Vice President Dick Cheney -- that only a simple majority vote is needed to either shut off debate on a judicial nomination or to change Senate rules on such votes.
Frist would need the backing of at least 49 other senators during one or more procedural votes, assuming all 100 senators were present and voting and Cheney, the president of the Senate, was on hand to break any ties.
Democrats have vowed to retaliate by using other procedural tools to hamstring the Senate.
These moderate Republican senators need to be reminded that the wheel will inevitably turn, and that Republicans will not be the majority forever. The Senate filibuster is a time-honored tradition that prevents majority tyranny--and in this political environment, that kind of protection is needed now more than ever.
If you live in a state with moderate Republican senators, please call, email, or fax their offices and ask them to say "no" to the "nuclear option."
Because everyone knows that when the nuclear option is used, no one survives.
If anyone would like to read the full text of the CQ article, shoot me an email (rumblelizard AT hotmail DOT com) and I'll send it to you. (And as an aside, I'd like to note that John McCain's slide into partisan whoredom is more sickening to behold with every word that comes out of his mouth. Uck. So much for "McCain the Straight Shooter.")