Senate Democrats on Monday blocked an immediate vote on a call by one of their own to censure President George W. Bush for his eavesdropping program. The Democrats acted after Republicans had said they were eager to pass judgment on a proposal that they portrayed as baseless and disruptive to the anti-terror effort.
Minutes before Senator Russell Feingold, a Democrat, formally introduced his resolution reprimanding Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Republicans were ready to vote by the end of the day or on yesterday.
"When we're talking about censure of the president of the United States at a time of war, when this president is out defending the American people with a very good, lawful, constitutional program, it is serious business," Frist said. "If they want to make an issue out of it, we're willing to do just that."
Democrats, while distancing themselves from Feingold's assertion that the president "plainly broke the law" in approving surveillance without warrants, said his proposal merited more consideration than a hasty vote.
"To try to limit debate on this most important matter that Senator Feingold is going to put before the Senate is not appropriate," Senator Harry Reid said.
The Democratic hesitancy was a sign they remain reluctant to challenge Bush on some security questions even when he is struggling in public opinion polls and came out on the wrong end of the fight over the Dubai port transfer.
Though surveys on surveillance, are mixed, Republicans say the public generally backs the idea of eavesdropping on people suspected of being in contact with terror suspects.
"The American people already made their decision," Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday in an appearance in Feingold's home state of Wisconsin, the Associated Press reported. "They agree with the president."
Feingold said he viewed his censure resolution as a reasonable way to hold the president accountable. He said it fell short of the push for impeachment that some critics contend is warranted by Bush's approval of the surveillance program and his strong defense of it.
"This is certainly more serious that anything president Clinton was accused of doing," said Feingold, who added that the grassroots response to his proposal was strong after he announced his intention on Sunday.
"It is reminiscent of what president Nixon was not only accused of doing, but was basically removed from office for doing," he said.
Other Republicans joined Frist in accusing Feingold of trying to build support for a possible presidential bid in 2008.
Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican who has expressed reservations about the surveillance, said Feingold had failed to make a case for censure over what amounts to a dispute over the legal basis of the program.
"The president may be wrong," Specter said, "but he has acted in good faith."
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