It’s helpful, from time to time, to take a moment to appreciate just how hopeless Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist really is.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the Senate was in the process of debating a massive defense appropriations bill. Considering that we’re in the midst of a costly war, you’d think Frist would offer lawmakers time to consider, and possibly improve, the legislation. But you’d be wrong — Frist cut off debate, limiting it to the shortest discussion on the National Defense Authorization bill since 1987<\/a>. Why? Because Frist was concerned lawmakers might vote to restrict torture<\/a> of detainees.<\/p>\n The Senate’s Republican leader on Tuesday derailed a bipartisan effort to set rules for the treatment of enemy prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other military detention camps by abruptly stopping debate on a $491 billion defense bill.<\/p>\n The unusual move came after senators, including several leading Republicans, beat back an effort by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to block amendments setting standards for military-prisoner interrogations and delaying base closings scheduled for approval later this year. The White House had threatened to veto the defense-spending legislation if it contained either of those provisions.<\/p>\n Rather than risk debate and votes on those amendments, Frist, R-Tenn., simply pulled the bill from consideration. The bill would have set defense spending levels for fiscal year 2006, which begins Oct. 1, and it includes authority to spend $50 billion on military operations in Iraq.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Wait, it gets worse. The Senate on Tuesday put off until fall completing a $491 billion defense bill to act this week on the National Rifle Association’s top priority: shielding gun manufacturers and dealers from liability suits stemming from gun crimes. <\/p>\n On a 66-32 test vote, the Senate indicated there’s plenty of support for Republican leaders’ determination to pass the gun bill before lawmakers leave at the end of this week for a monthlong vacation.<\/p>\n “The only reason it is coming to the floor, in a time of war to interrupt the debate on the Defense Authorization bill is that members are feeling pressure form the gun lobby,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It made for lively exchanges on the Senate floor. C&L has some entertaining video<\/a>.<\/p>\n Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) ultimately asked her colleagues if Frist believes the NRA’s shielding bill “is more important than the defense authorization bill in a time of war?” He didn’t have a good answer — because there is no good answer.<\/p>\n Remember, this is the kind of leadership Bill Frist hopes to bring to the White House in 2008.<\/p>\n
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\nFirst, Frist pulls the bill that would fund the war. Then, to make his priorities clear, Frist decides to redirect the Senate’s attention from providing money for the military to doing the NRA’s bidding<\/a>.<\/p>\n