Posted on 06/08/2005 5:40:20 AM PDT by OESY
This isn't the first time we've written about a Senate tradition called the "hold," by which an individual Senator can delay indefinitely a Presidential nomination. It's an abuse of the Constitution's advice-and-consent power, and the Senate would be better off without it.
This being a Republican administration, most of the current abusers are Democrats, who have announced holds on the head of the Food and Drug Administration, the Deputy Secretary of Interior, a Treasury Undersecretary and an Assistant Secretary of Defense, among other nominees. But sometimes Republicans get in on the bad behavior, and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback is now blocking the nomination of Julie Finley to be ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe because she supports abortion rights.
Senator Brownback is chairman of the Helsinki Commission, the human-rights body that helps shape U.S. policy at the OSCE. According to his office, he's concerned that Ms. Finley might not act decisively against European countries trying to push through policies that expand abortion rights. In addition, "She hasn't reached out to us. The White House hasn't reached out to us," a spokesman says.
Ah, the old "hasn't reached out" excuse. More likely, the Senator is angling to impress the GOP's anti-abortion wing, whose support he will want if he decides to run for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2008. Yes, Ms. Finley is a pro-choice Republican, but she's also one of the party's biggest financial contributors and has backed pro-life candidates, such as President Bush and Bob Dole.
Last time we checked, it required a coalition to sustain a political majority, and Ms. Finley is being nominated for what is basically a security (not a social policy) post. Republicans don't want to become the mirror image of those Democrats who blocked....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Head of the OSCE is one of those jobs where abortion never really comes up. I understand why it wasn't Bush's concern with this appointment, and the Senator should, too.
I guess the concept of up or down votes is only valid if the Dems use Senate manipulations.
I believe that Brownbeck has aspirations to run for president next election.
Well .. bucking Bush is not a good way to start.
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