Reid presses Bush to help end FEC standoff

White House officials had no quick answer to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Monday, after the Nevada Democrat urged President Bush to lobby GOP senators to break the impasse over Federal Election Commission (FEC) vacancies.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, Reid said the only other option for Bush was to withdraw the controversial nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who has been criticized by Democrats who say he has suppressed minorities’ voting rights.

{mosads}Reid said it was Senate Republicans who were blocking the chamber from holding up-or-down votes on nominees to fill the FEC’s five empty seats.

“There are two very clear ways available to us to reach the goal of a fully functional FEC,” Reid wrote Bolten. “The first is to convince Senate Republican leaders to adopt the White House’s position that the Senate proceed to voting on each of these nominations individually. Failing that, the second is to withdraw the nomination of Mr. von Spakovsky.”

Reid invited Bush to resubmit the GOP nomination of FEC Chairman David Mason instead of von Spakovsky.

“We could quickly arrive at a functioning FEC,” Reid wrote.

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said the administration had no immediate comment on the letter.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said Senate Republicans will work with Democrats on how to proceed on the three nominations Bush submitted last week for the agency. Bush nominated Don McGahn and Caroline Hunter, both Republicans, and Cynthia Bauerly, a Democrat.

Likewise, at a press conference last week, McConnell said he and Reid plan to discuss how to resolve the impasse.

“Obviously, however it unfolds, the Democrats will not be able to allow — to determine who the Republican nominees are, any more than we want to determine who theirs are,” McConnell said.

“We have picked three that we're comfortable with. The president's nominated three that they're comfortable with. Now Sen. Reid and I need to work out a process by which we can get all six of them confirmed.”