Just got off a conference call with Senate Republican
staffers.Of most interest: Tomorrow's "policy lunch" of the Senate
GOP Conference will include a discussion about when and how and how
loudly the GOP senators should ratchet up their plans to push the
judicial nominations issue front and center again. For weeks, now,
Arlen Specter, Orrin Hatch and Mitch McConnell have been promising
a major push on the issue (so far this Congress, only 7 federal
appeals court nominees have been confirmed, well off the pace
Republicans did for Clinton nominees in the last two years of
Clinton's term), including a potential move to "shut down the
Senate" over it. A key staffer said that Judiciary Committee
Republicans "are really, really fired up about this,"
and "so far the Conference has been receptive." He also said that
"Republicans are in a position to make a real headache" for Demo
Leader Harry Reid if the Dems keep stalling. But the senators need
to hear about the issue more often, he said. "Any amount of
advocacy to raise the profile of this issue is helpful," he
said.
So there you have your invitation, readers: Call or write your
senator and let him know this is important. Here's a
fuller explanation of it.
topics:
Harry Reid, NATO
