GOP blocks Gonzales no-confidence vote
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
Republicans blocked a Senate no-confidence vote on Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales Monday, rejecting a symbolic Democratic effort to
force him from office amid blistering criticism from lawmakers in
both parties.
The 53-38 vote to move the resolution to full debate fell seven short
of the 60 required. In bringing the matter up, Democrats dared
Republicans to vote their true feelings about an attorney general who
has alienated even the White House's strongest defenders by bungling
the firings of federal prosecutors and claiming not to recall the
details.
Republicans did not defend him, but most voted against moving the
resolution ahead.
Monday's vote was not the end of scrutiny for Gonzales and his
management of the Justice Department ‹ more congressional hearings
are scheduled and an internal department investigation continues.
Short of impeachment, Congress has no authority to oust a Cabinet
member, but Democrats were trying anew to give him a push. Gonzales
dismissed the rhetorical ruckus on Capitol Hill, and President Bush
continued to stand by his longtime friend and legal adviser.
"They can have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to
make the determination about who serves in my government," Bush said
in Sofia, Bulgaria, the last stop on a weeklong visit to Europe.
"This process has been drug out a long time," Bush added. "It's
political."
The attorney general said he was paying no attention to the rhetoric
on Capitol Hill and didn't plan on leaving anytime soon.
"I am focused on the next 18 months and sprinting to the finish
line," Gonzales said ad he met Monday with child advocates in an
impoverished Mobile, Ala., neighborhood.
In the Senate, seven Republicans voted with Democrats to advance the
no confidence resolution.
Even before the controversy over fired prosecutors, lawmakers of both
parties complained that Gonzales allowed Justice to violate civil
liberties on a host of other issues ‹ such as implementing Bush's
warrantless wiretapping program.
One veteran Republican said Gonzales had used up all his political
capital in the Senate.
"There is no confidence in the attorney general on this side of the
aisle," said Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of
Pennsylvania, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary
Committee. Specter voted to move the resolution forward, but he said
many of his GOP colleagues would not because they feared political
retribution.
Democrats said it was only fair to put senators on record for or
against Gonzales, particularly since five GOP senators have called
for the attorney general's resignation and many more have said they
have lost confidence in him.
The mere debate shook loose another Republican call for a new
attorney general.
Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, for the first
time publicly declared she had lost confidence in Gonzales.
"I think his continued tenure does not benefit the department or our
country," she said.
Chief sponsor Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y.,
urged more like her to vote their true feelings.
"If senators cast their vote with their conscience, they would speak
with near unanimity that there is no confidence in the attorney
general," said Schumer. "Their united voice would undoubtedly
dislodge the attorney general from the post that he should no longer
hold."
"He deserves to be fired," said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid
(news, bio, voting record), D-Nev.
Whatever Gonzales may or may not deserve, some Republicans said, it's
not the Senate's job to hold forth on a member of the president's
Cabinet.
"This is a nonbinding, irrelevant resolution proving what? Nothing,"
said Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss. "Maybe we
should be considering a vote of no confidence on the Senate or on the
Congress for malfunction and an inability to produce anything."
The vote cut across party lines.
Seven Republicans voted for the no-confidence resolution, including
four senators who had called for a new attorney general: Sens. John
Sununu (news, bio, voting record) of New Hampshire, Gordon Smith
(news, bio, voting record) of Oregon, Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting
record) of Nebraska and Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record) of
Minnesota. Joining them were Specter and Maine Republicans Olympia
Snowe (news, bio, voting record) and Collins.
Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent who often votes
with the Democrats, voted no. And Sen. Ted Stevens (news, bio, voting
record), R-Alaska, voted present.
Those not voting included Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting
record), R-Ariz., a presidential candidate who had called for
Gonzales' resignation.
House Democrats announced that Gonzales' deputy, Paul McNulty, who
has announced his resignation, would testify June 19 about his role
in the U.S. attorney firings. Gonzales last month said he relied on
McNulty more than any other aide to decide which U.S. attorneys
should be fired last year. But internal Justice Department documents
showed that McNulty was not closely involved in picking all of those
fired.
And the Justice Department's internal inspector general is
investigating whether department officials improperly considered the
party affiliation of candidates for career jobs there.
Majority Democrats toned down the language in their one-sentence
resolution to attract more support from Republicans. The measure
read: "It is the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the
American people."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_go_co/senate_gonzales;_ylt=A
sOn_mUScimG64M7qEU6aQes0NUE
--
get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.
.
|
