WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked an end-run attempt to confirm David Hayes as deputy secretary of the Interior Department on Wednesday, handing his potential future boss, Ken Salazar, a significant political defeat.
In an angry statement, Salazar called the vote “bitter obstructionism.”
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, participating in a hastily arranged news conference of Senate Democrats, decried it as “classic hostage-taking” possible “only in the bizarro world of Washington, D.C.”
“It may be uncomfortable for some to watch us have to clean up mess after mess — from corruption to law breaking — that is the previous administration’s legacy at Interior,” Salazar said. “But to cast a vote against such a qualified and fine person is the height of cynicism.”
It also was clear that — with three Democratic senators out of town — Senate leaders had blundered by calling for a cloture vote to dislodge Hayes from procedural delays created by Republicans unhappy over the direction Salazar has taken as head of Interior.
Salazar has reversed key Bush administration decisions on oil shale, the fast-tracking of off-shore drilling, the Endangered Species Act and other issues, and Democrats appeared to underestimate Republican resolve to highlight their concerns.
“I’m not cynical,” said Sen. Robert Bennett, the Utah Republican leading the fight over the confirmation of Hayes, who also was deputy interior secretary in the Clinton administration. “This is about the department’s failure to respond to legitimate questions and concerns.”
As his colleagues came into the chamber to vote, Bennett stood near the dais and personally thanked Republicans, only two of whom broke ranks. Combined with three absent Democrats, the vote failed 57-39, shy of the 60-vote supermajority needed to overcome Republican holds.
Bennett said he now expects Salazar to complete a review of the decision to revoke 77 oil and gas leases near two national parks in southern Utah before he will allow the confirmation to move.
Late Tuesday, Salazar made several last-minute concessions to Bennett and other Republicans in hopes of moving the confirmation vote forward, including a promise to send Hayes to Utah within 10 days and complete the review Bennett requested by May 29.
But Democrats were in a less conciliatory mood Wednesday after the failed vote, vowing to push for cloture again next week, when the three missing senators are back in Washington.
“We will continue to offer this nomination to the Senate until (Hayes) is approved,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the majority whip, said after the vote.
“The idea behind this is clearly that the Republicans in the Senate want to delay the president’s assembling of his team to lead this nation. That’s unfortunate,” Durbin said.
