N.C.’s Burr: Why Are We Waiting When We Could Be Voting?

Wed, April 23, 2008 - 4:39 PM

WASHINGTON—In Washington, politics never delay votes on key pieces of legislation, right?

Um, no. It happens pretty much every day, usually dozens of times a day. It’s the way this town works.

So, it was much more of the same Wednesday when Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., condemned Senate Democratic leaders for delaying by a few hours a vote on a key piece of veterans’ legislation.

The reason for the delay: politics, of course, this time of the presidential variety.

A day after the Pennsylvania primary, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were out campaigning hard Wednesday, and not expected to return to Washington until late in the afternoon. They face tough primaries in Indiana and North Carolina early next month.

So, Senate Democrats decided not to open the Senate until late Wednesday afternoon, so the candidates could return to town to vote.

“I objected to that,” Burr said. “I objected because I didn't think we needed to accommodate presidential candidates just to accommodate their schedule.”

“If that's the way the majority determines that they want to run the United States Senate, I'm confident the American people will seek a change in who runs the United States Senate,” he added.

One wonders whether Burr would have expressed as much outrage at the delay were his chosen candidate, Sen. John McCain, still locked in a tight race and the Senate delayed opening a few hours to accommodate him.

--Sean Mussenden