15-01-2003 10:18									#1
	GOP claims Senate 'coup' in offing Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

quote: Senate Fights Over Organization Battle Over Money, Office Space Threatens to Stall Legislation, Nominations By Helen Dewar Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 15, 2003; Page A17 With tax cuts, a huge spending bill and possible war stacked up on its agenda, the Senate plunged yesterday into a paralyzing partisan fight over funding and office space for its committees. It had taken the Senate only a week since it reconvened with upbeat pledges of bipartisan cooperation to return to the same old fractiousness with which it wound up its work last year. Viewing the conflict through sharply different lenses, Republicans said the Democrats' tactics were "tantamount to an attempted coup," as Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) put it, while Democrats said they only wanted fairness in the distribution of about $50 million to run 20 Senate committees for the year. Until the dispute is resolved and the Senate passes a new "organizing resolution" for its committees, new senators will not get committee assignments and Democrats will stay on as chairmen even though Republicans won control of the Senate in last November's elections. As a result, hearings, including one scheduled for yesterday on the nomination of Tom Ridge to head the new Department of Homeland Security, were put off, apparently because the Bush administration did not want to testify before Democratic chairmen. Ridge was rescheduled for Friday. Delays are also threatened for action on spending bills left over from last year. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) attempted to speed the GOP takeover by filing a resolution dealing with committee chairmanships and Republican members but not funding. Democrats objected, and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said they would filibuster the proposal if necessary. Meanwhile, talks between Frist and Daschle were continuing, and Frist said last night they were "very, very close" to an agreement. The whole thing was beginning to look like "sandbox silliness," said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). "People will look at this and ask what in the world is going on," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.). "The Senate ought to be able to organize itself." It appeared the Senate itself might pay a price for its squabbling. Frist warned yesterday, as he has before, that the Senate will not be taking its customary mid-January recess next week unless it resolves its organizational dispute and deals with the 11 spending bills for the fiscal year that began last October. Chances of meeting those conditions appeared slim. Until the last Congress, organizing resolutions were rather routine affairs, confirming the selection of new chairmen and appointment of new members. But the election of an evenly divided Senate in 2000 gave rise to a power-sharing arrangement under which committee funding was evenly split. When Vermont Sen. James M. Jeffords left the GOP in mid-2001, giving Democrats control of the Senate by one vote, the funding division was changed only slightly in the Democrats' favor. In the current dispute, Democrats argue that the funding division should reflect the existing 51 to 49 party breakdown in the Senate, just as it reflected the narrow split two years ago. Republicans say the majority party always got two-thirds of committee funds before the last Congress and that the Senate should return to this split. Republicans quickly sought to cast the dispute in a broader light, accusing Democrats of trying to reverse the results of the November elections. "A shameful power grab," said Sen. George Allen (R-Va.). The GOP circulated an e-mail summary of a Jan. 2 Democratic staff meeting and contended that it showed Democrats had plotted an impasse. Democrats said the e-mail simply stated the obvious: that a dispute was likely and delays were possible. Many Democrats tried to change the subject to other issues, such as President Bush's tax cut proposals. Several of them, in a parody of the "Leave No Child Behind" school bill that Congress passed last year, referred to the tax measure as the "Leave No Millionaire Behind" bill.

Someone is getting a little pissy.

Edit: I hate these new quote boxes.

	15-01-2003 10:24									#2
	Put an end to popups!

My office space! No, mine! *slap* *punch*

	15-01-2003 10:27									#3
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We should have expected something like this when the Republicans took control of the Senate by electing Senators Larry, Moe and Curley.

	15-01-2003 10:28									#4
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The Senate doing nothing is a good thing.

	15-01-2003 10:29									#5
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Why is it when Democrats lose they behave like whining brats?

	15-01-2003 10:37									#6
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This is the biggest tempest in the smallest teapot I've ever seen. The Dems will lose on this one, and it will inevitably strengthen Frist.

	15-01-2003 10:41									#7
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui Why is it when Democrats lose they behave like whining brats?

It's almost like they enjoy being the minority party.

quote: This is the biggest tempest in the smallest teapot I've ever seen.

Agreed. I just found the whole thing funny. That's why I posted it.

	15-01-2003 10:57									#8
	Got spare money?

Why is it being whining brats to want to retain a fair system that allocates funds according to proportion of representation, rather than return to a discarded system that gives 51 senators twice the funding of 49?

It would be dirt simple to allocate funding on a one percent per Senator basis, since it doesn't seem like we're going to get anymore states anytime soon.

Office space tiffs happen with mergers and reorganizations in corporate America all the time - so why should we respect their representation in the government to be any different?

	15-01-2003 11:05									#9
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quote: Why is it being whining brats to want to retain a fair system that allocates funds according to proportion of representation, rather than return to a discarded system that gives 51 senators twice the funding of 49?

Its is the way it has been, and now that the Dems are in the minority they want to change it. The ONLY reason that funding was the same for the last Congress was because of the deal made because of the tie in Congress. No party was in majority because Jeffords became and independant. If the Dems were in the majority they wouldn't even think of changing the system. It is interesting that the Dems are doing this as they are in power (through an independant voting for them) and are about to lose it.

	15-01-2003 11:11									#10
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Whenever demos start talking about 'fairness' I know to hide my wallet.

	15-01-2003 11:27									#11
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MtG: The GOP can pretty much do what it likes on this, and that's why the split has been done this way in the past.

The end game is inevitable. That's why I'm puzzled about Dem behavior. Why set up the first battle with Frist as something that you know you'll lose?

	15-01-2003 11:38									#12
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it actually makes sense

however, it might be something that needs a law

Jon Miller