Health InsuranceGOP Senators Say They Do Not Plan To Delay Hearing For Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday that GOP senators would not use procedural maneuvers to delay Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, "It could be in the Republicans" own political interest to go ahead with the Sotomayor hearings as currently scheduled," because it would allow them to "argue that the Senate Finance Committee cannot mark up its version of a health care overhaul next week because four of its GOP members" -- including ranking Republican Charles Grassley (Iowa) -- also serve on the Judiciary Committee. The first hearing is scheduled to begin Monday. Sessions said, "We"re going to do our best to be ready Monday" (Perine, CQ Today, 7/7). Barring any unexpected developments, Sotomayor should be confirmed before the August recess, according to The Hill. Republicans this spring had pushed for delaying a floor vote to the fall, but the change of course shows that Democrats "continue to enjoy the upper hand" in the confirmation process, The Hill reports. It also indicates that most Republicans agree with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that only a week of hearings will be necessary (Rushing, The Hill, 7/7).
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