Hillary, Leahy Oppose Ashcroft

Hillary, Leahy Oppose Ashcroft

CNSNews.com
Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001

Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., announced Monday they would vote to oppose John Ashcroft to be attorney general. But Leahy said he had told the White House he will not use parliamentary maneuvers to block Ashcroft's nomination.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Ashcroft's nomination today, and a full Senate vote is expected Wednesday. Four Senate Democrats have said they would vote for Ashcroft, wire services have reported, and none of the 50 Republicans have announced opposition.

Republicans are confident. Senate Majority leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he hoped the full Senate would vote to confirm Ashcroft by the end of the week. Ashcroft is expected to be confirmed after heated floor debate, where liberals will seize the opportunity to blast Ashcroft for his conservative philosophy, rather than for his job qualifications.

Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he felt that Ashcroft would further divide the country on abortion and "civil rights." He says he has doubts that Ashcroft could set aside his beliefs and enforce the law.

"John Ashcroft's unyielding and intemperate positions on many issues raise grave doubts both about how he will interpret the oath he would take as attorney general to enforce the law and about how he will exercise the enormous power of that office," Leahy said on Capitol Hill.

Leahy said Ashcroft was "a man who held some of the most extreme positions on a variety of the most volatile social and political issues of our time: civil rights, women's rights, gun violence, discrimination against gay Americans and the role of the judiciary."

Clinton said she would vote against Ashcroft. She said at a news conference, "His record and his views place on the distant shores of American jurisprudence, not in the mainstream of New York and American convictions.''

A Fox News Channel anchorman Monday retorted, "Who is she to describe what the mainstream is?"

Senate Confirms Chao for Labor

Meanwhile, the full Senate voted Monday to confirm Elaine Chao as labor secretary.

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