Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company The Boston
Globe
December 24, 2002, Tuesday ,THIRD
EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 1042 words
HEADLINE: SENATE GOP PICKS FRIST PARTY TRIES TO MOVE ON AFTER
UPROAR OVER LOTT
BYLINE: By Sue Kirchhoff, Globe
Staff
BODY: WASHINGTON - Senate
Republicans without dissent chose Tennessee surgeon Bill Frist as their new
majority leader yesterday, moving swiftly to prepare for a tough legislative
session and repair the party's image after a furor over racially divisive
remarks by the former GOP leader, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi.
The 50-year-old Frist, who was elected just days after
Lott stepped down, compared his sudden elevation at a time of freshly opened
racial wounds, international turmoil, and economic unease, to the burdens and
challenges he faced as a specialist in heart and lung transplants.
"A few moments ago, my colleagues gave
me a responsibility equal to that, and in some way, many would say, even a
heavier responsibility. I accepted that responsibility with a profound, profound
sense of humility, very similar to placing that heart into a dying woman or a
child or a man," Frist said during a press conference in Nashville.
He promised to reach across the political aisle and across
the country for support.
"We . . . will transform what
has occurred in the past few weeks, what has occurred at that moment in history,
into a catalyst for unity and a catalyst for positive change," Frist said. "We
must dedicate ourselves to healing those wounds of division that have been
reopened so prominently during the past few weeks."
Most of the 51 Republican senators participated in an unprecedented
conference call in which Frist was elected by acclamation. The selection was
initially scheduled for early next month, but was moved forward to give the
Tennessee Republican time to prepare for the new Congress, which opens Jan.
7.
Frist, who was elected to his first term in the
Senate in 1994, has built a reputation not only for brokering deals on
health-related issues, but also for personal heroics, such as applying emergency
first aid after a Capitol shooting and aiding a heart attack victim in a Senate
office building. His next challenge will be to revive a moribund Senate that
seems to place a higher premium on partisan battling than making tough
compromises and passing legislation.
With Republicans
set to control both the White House and Congress in January, the GOP must
produce tangible results on a host of issues, from a Medicare
prescription drug benefit to new tax and spending proposals. Despite the
Republican majority, the party is far short of the 60 votes needed to break off
a filibuster and move legislation through the chamber.
"Last year, with divided control, each side was blaming the other" for
the lack of a prescription drug benefit, said David Certner of the AARP, the
nation's largest seniors' group. "Now with the Republican Party in control of
all three branches, the pressure on them to act is greater than it ever has been
before."
Yesterday's conference call, which opened with
a prayer by Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, included comments by Lott, who
thanked senators for their help and prayers. Republicans said they hoped it was
a first step toward healing internal divisions.
"I
think the atmosphere was a solemn one . . . a prayerful one," said Pennsylvania
Republican Rick Santorum. "This was not, obviously, a joyous celebration for
Senator Frist or anybody."
Republicans are clearly
anxious to move past the controversy over a comment by Lott, who suggested that
the country would have been better off if Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican of
South Carolina, had been elected president in 1948, when he ran as a
segregationist. Lott apologized repeatedly for the statement, saying it was a
misguided effort to compliment Thurmond on his 100th birthday.
Santorum said the first priority when Congress returns in January will
be legislation to restore unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of
people who will be cut off the rolls on Saturday. Another big issue will be
Bush's demand to reduce education, transportation, and other domestic spending
bills by about $10 billion. That effort could pit Frist against not just
Democrats, but senior members of his own party who are unhappy about the
spending cuts and uneasy at what they see as White House efforts to force Lott
out of his post and install Frist instead.
Bush
publicly condemned Lott. Privately, the White House let it be known that Lott
should go and that Frist should take his place. Presidents - with some
exceptions, such as Franklin Roosevelt's effort to choose a majority leader of
his liking - usually steer clear of internal leadership races.
Frist didn't get the Senate majority leader job just because of White
House intervention. There was a widespread feeling among senators that Lott had
damaged the party. Further, Frist had built a ready base of support by running
his party's campaign committee, helping to raise record amounts for Republican
candidates and develop a hard-hitting strategy that helped Republicans win a
51-49 majority in the Senate.
While some conservative
groups have concerns about Frist's efforts to broker a compromise on the
contentious issue of stem cell research and about some of his votes on abortion
rights, his overall voting record hews closely to Lott's. In fact, the NAACP and
some liberal groups have criticized Frist as too far to the right.
"I don't see anything in his record that indicates he will
be a thorn in the side of this president," said Michael Franc, vice president of
government relations for the Heritage Foundation. "His real value would be that
he will be a fresh face with a lot of media credibility on issues, especially
health care."
The White House is expected to propose a
broad Medicare prescription drug plan this year that will
include new pharmaceutical benefits, but also call for reductions in other areas
of the federal health insurance program. The effort is likely to be
controversial, and, while Frist's expertise on health issues could help get a
bill through, his background includes some potential political negatives.
For example, the health care industry has a major donor to
Frist's reelection campaign. He has received $205,000 in individual and PAC
donations from the pharmaceutical and health products industry in the past six
years, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, 1. Compares role to medical
challenges / AFP PHOTO SENATOR BILL FRIST 2. Senators Rick Santorum of
Pennsylvania (left) and George Allen of Virginia spoke yesterday prior to a
telephone conference with fellow Republicans to elect the new Senate majority
leader. / AP PHOTO
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