Yup. But it was a gentleman's agreement, a "good faith" agreement in Specter's parlance. Reading the below, it appears this good faith agreement was reached after consultation with ALL of the members of the Committee.
I suggest, since the DEMs will try to hide which of them demands another week, that the request be assigned as having come from EACH and EVERY one of them. Reid has asked ALL of the Dems to avoid committing to votes before Wednesday the 18th, so it is fair to have a presumption of "guilt" if you will on all of them.
Aired November 3, 2005 - 17:00 ETSEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We don't know what is -- our staff has been stretched very, very thin, having given up August, and we had to go through a very difficult scheduling process to have Chief Justice Robert seated by October 3. But we did that.
And we had a difficult process with Ms. Harriet Miers. And we finally worked that out with the consent of Senator Leahy to start on November 7. And I said to Pat a few minutes ago, after all these years of training and practice, I've turned in to be a professional scheduler. That's all I do is schedule.
So we have -- we have worked through the process, and my preference on a starting date is January 2, which would have given us hearings on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th, with an exec on Tuesday the 10th, and floor action on the 11th, 12th, and a vote on the 13th. But that allows for a week's holdover as a matter of right by any senator.
And January 2 is a difficult day. Technically it's a holiday. We could work on a holiday around here if we really had to, and it also implicates Hanukkah, I'm told. But we could have done that. But at any rate...
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: Not me. I'm not going to give up Hanukkah.
(LAUGHTER)
SPECTER: But at any rate, Senator Leahy and I have worked through it. And since it could be delayed for a week in any event by any senator who wants to hold it over for a week, that we would put that week back at the start on the 9th, with the good faith understanding that our intent would be to go to an executive committee meeting on the 17th, the day after Martin Luther King holiday, so that the schedule will be -- we'll start hearings on -- at noon on the 9th, and we'll have them Tuesday the 10th, Wednesday the 11th, Thursday the 12th, Friday the 13th, Saturday the 14th, if necessary.
We will then go to exec on the 17th. And here we can't get everybody bound in writing to waive it in advance. But Pat Leahy and Arlen Specter have had no problems, nor have anybody on the committee, of not fulfilling what we have said we would do as a matter of good faith intent, which will put the executive session on the 17th.
We finish that with Chief Justice Roberts in the morning. And then we would go to the 18th, 19th and 20th for floor debate, with a vote on the 20th.
Now, that will require senators coming back. And Senator Frist has been apprised of this every step of the way, as has Senator Reid.
Senator Frist, Reid, Senator Leahy and I met earlier today, and there are a lot of people to consult.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/03/sitroom.03.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1557991/posts
Alito Confirmation Another Setback for Bush
Scrapple Face ^ | 1/14/06 | Scott Ott
LOL!