Republicans unhappy over package

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 6. The Republican leadership in the Senate is not entirely happy with the package that has been worked out on power sharing, but the Grand Old Party really did not have much of a choice. By a voice vote, the Senate approved a mechanism that will see Democrats and Republicans share, among other things, equal number of seats on Committees and money to run panels.

Senior Republican Senators and some party leaders were miffed that the party had to give up some prized privileges in spite of the fact that technically it would be the ``majority'' party in the upper House by virtue of the next Vice-President, Mr. Richard Cheney, being able to cast the tie-breaking vote. But with the Senate evenly split at 50-50, the Democrats have been pressing for a larger role and much more than on the symbolic fronts.

The Republicans will still have control over Committee Chairs but the Resolution passed has called for an even division of Committee assignments and the same amounts of money to run the Committees. In the event of a tie vote in the Committee which normally would have doomed a particular legislation or nomination, both parties - through their leaders - will have the right to bring the matter to the full Senate for a vote.

On the one hand, the Democrats in the Senate are quite happy with the way things have turned out, especially after their demands had met with intense initial opposition from the GOP. But on the other hand, the Democrats are not exactly walking away with everything they had hoped for. For instance, the party by virtue of the tie had hoped for co-chairmanships of the Committees and equal representation in Conference Committees. Neither of these have come through in the final package.

Politically, it was critical that both Mr. Trent Lott and Mr. Tom Daschle get through the first major challenge and without much fuss. In fact, despite some minor rumblings in both parties, Senators on both sides of the aisle have come to accept the scheme of things.

Now that the structure has been hammered away, it remains to be seen as to how this is actually put in practice. The fear in some quarters is that the framework that has been agreed to could lead to stalemate at the time of actual debate and voting in the various committees and sub-committees.

But the optimism is that the Senate Majority and the Minority Leaders will be able to guide the Chamber through in the event of a dispute.

And one of the first indications will come when the Senate gets into the serious legislative business - or even the confirmation hearings - after the inauguration of the 43rd President on Jan. 20.

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Section  : International
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