Schumer, Feinstein to call for no-confidence vote on Gonzales

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that they will seek a vote of no confidence on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“We need an attorney general who is a prosecutor, not a puppet,” Schumer said at an afternoon press conference. “A vote of no confidence will express that sentiment and send a powerful message to the White House that Congress does have a stake in these matters.”

{mosads}Feinstein pointed to several instances in which Gonzales has not lived up to a standard that she feels should be applied to the attorney general.

“Whether it was the torture memo, whether it’s Guantánamo, whether it’s Geneva Convention, whether it’s U.S. attorneys, whether it’s ‘I don’t know, I can’t recall’ — over a department as major as this, I don’t think the American people are well served,” she said.

Schumer stated that it seems “the only person who has confidence in the attorney general is President Bush.” The senator noted that several Republicans have called for Gonzales to resign or at least have been highly critical of his performance.

Schumer believes that a no-confidence resolution should pass easily, even if it were filibustered.

“I find it hard to believe that you couldn’t find many more than 60 votes in favor of this,” he told reporters.