US Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) announced Friday that an anticipated floor debate on a resolution expressing the Senate’s lack of confidence in beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will take place Monday.
The no-confidence resolution, which is non-binding, will require the support of 60 senators to limit debate and further amendments to come to a vote. Schumer, a senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website], said that “if all senators who have actually lost confidence… [in Gonzales] voted their conscience, this vote would be unanimous.”
In May, Schumer said that at least 26 Democratic senators were planning to join him in co-sponsoring the no-confidence resolution, and mentioned the possibility of recruiting Republicans to co-sponsor the resolution. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the top Republican member on the Judiciary Committee, has said that he believes a “sizable number” of Republican members of Congress will join Democrats in a vote of no-confidence in Gonzales, who has lately been plagued by controversy surrounding the allegedly-political firings of eight US Attorneys, as well as questions about his conduct as White House counsel in the NSA domestic surveillance program. Specter has said he had a “sense” that Gonzales may step down before the vote. The New York Times has more.
