In other congressional news the number of federal appealate judicial nominees being filibustered has risen from 6 to 10 over the last two days. Yesterday, a nominee to the 9th Circuit was blocked by Democrats, principally because of fears of his views on environmental matters and concerns over his qualifications for such a high position in the judicial branch. Today, 3 nominees to the 6th Circuit were blocked by the Democrats. These 3 are caught up in a long-standing partisan dispute over nominees to that Circuit that stretches back into the Clinton administration.
Also today, both houses of Congress approved the free trade agreement between US and Morocco. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor in both houses. There was an interesting split between them though. In the House all the votes against it were from Democrats (plus Bernie Sanders). In the Senate though 8 votes against it were from Democrats and the other 5 were from Republicans. Most of those votes were precitable (for example L. Graham, Dole and Voinovich all represent treaditionally protectionist states). What I think is remarkable here is that it's another example of the shockingly good party discipline among Republicans in the House. To get the vote of every Republican congressman from protectionist areas in the Carolinas and Middle West on this measure is no small feat.
Posted by armand at July 22, 2004 03:27 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics