-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Jeffords leaves GOP, blames Bush Democrats will control Senate committees, agenda In announcing that he will leave the Republican Party, Vermont's Sen. Jim Jeffords said he disagrees with President Bush on issues ranging from the environment to abortion. MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS BURLINGTON, Vt., May 24 — In a move that reshapes the nation’s political landscape, Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont announced Thursday he was leaving the Republican Party, handing Senate control to the Democrats for the first time since 1994. Citing policy differences with President Bush and “the changing nature of the national party,” Jeffords said he would become an independent. PRESIDENT BUSH, speaking during a visit to Cleveland, said that while he respected Jeffords, “respectfully, I couldn’t disagree more” with Jeffords’ criticism of the Republican agenda in Congress. “I was elected to get things done on behalf of the American people and to work with both Republicans and Democrats and we’re doing just that,” Bush said. In his announcement, Jeffords said he would align himself with Democrats since he differed with the president on many policies. “Looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where I’ll disagree with the president on very fundamental issues — the issues of choice, the direction of the judiciary, tax and spending decisions, missile defense, energy and the environment, and a host of other issues, large and small,” Jeffords said. “Given the changing nature of the national party,” he added, “it has become a struggle for the party’s leaders to deal with me and for me to deal with them.” His decision breaks a 50-50 tie, giving Democrats the majority they need to take control of Senate committees. Until now, Republicans controlled the Senate because of the tie-breaking vote wielded by Vice President Dick Cheney. Jeffords had planned to make his announcement in the Senate on Wednesday but then changed his mind, delaying it until Thursday so that he could make his decision in Vermont. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that sources close to Jeffords said the senator also wanted to wait until after passage of the compromise Senate tax-cut bill, which he supported. The bill passed the Senate on Wednesday and went to a House-Senate conference committee. Jeffords said he would make the switch formal “once the conference report on the tax bill is sent to the president. I gave my word to the president that I would not intercept or try to intervene in the signing of that bill.” Before leaving Washington, Jeffords met twice in the Capitol with Republican leaders who tried to keep him in the GOP fold by offering a Senate leadership role, more money for his favored education programs and a waiver of term limits to let him remain chairman of the Education Committee beyond the end of next year. MCCAIN CRITICIZES PARTY Advertisement Bush and Cheney spoke with Jeffords earlier this week to try to keep him in the party, and the White House had urgently contacted longtime Jeffords’ donors and political supporters, hoping they could persuade the senator to stay in the GOP. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a maverick who unsuccessfully fought Bush for the GOP presidential nomination last year, on Thursday criticized Republicans for intolerance of internal disagreement while treating Jeffords too harshly. “Tolerance of dissent is the hallmark of a mature party, and it is well past time for the Republican Party to grow up,” McCain said in a written statement. One veteran Republican political adviser, appearing on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” told Chris Matthews that Republicans need moderates like Jeffords to expand their reach and get Bush into position for re-election in 2004. “The Republican Party has to have its moderates … they have to be listened to,” said consultant Ed Rollins. “Each senator is an independent force.” Jeffords, 67, has a moderate-to-liberal voting record and frequently crossed party lines on high-profile issues, most recently Bush’s tax cut. Jeffords supports abortion rights, votes for environmental legislation his GOP colleagues generally oppose, favors more education spending than many other Republicans, including Bush, and felt the $1.6 trillion tax cut sought by Bush was too large. The Senate bill supported by Jeffords institutes a $1.35 trillion tax cut. BILLS, NOMINATIONS Even as an independent, Jeffords’ move throws control of the Senate to the Democratic Party, promoting Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota to majority leader. Daschle told reporters Thursday that the top two items on the Democratic agenda will be completing a bill to revamp education programs and pressing for new restrictions on health maintenance organizations. He also served notice that he intends to use the Democrats’ new muscle to force President Bush to tone down parts of his agenda. “We can’t dictate to them, nor can they dictate to us,” Daschle said, calling for “principled compromise” from both parties. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the outgoing majority leader, said Senate Republicans remain “unified and committed” to pushing Bush’s priorities, including tax and spending cuts, increased defense spending and shoring up Social Security and Medicare. Republicans will relinquish the majority when Congress sends a final version of its tax-cutting legislation to the president, or on June 5, whichever is later, Lott said. Switch in the Senate • Latest news • Democrats wield control • Fineman: Presidency 101 • WP: Republican missteps • WP: Compromise will be key • Who is Jim Jeffords? • Text of Jeffords' statement As soon as the switch is formalized, Democratic committee chairmen will decide what bills get hearings and what measures will be allowed to reach the Senate floor. Moreover, the Bush administration will face a much harder time getting court and agency nominations through a Democratic-controlled Senate. NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reported that the Senate historian said no historical precedent exists for a party-switch that shifts the balance of power in the Senate. “We are in uncharted waters,” said historian Don Ritchie. A provision in the power-sharing bill passed by senators to deal with the 50-50 tie states that if one party gains a numerical majority, party control will shift immediately and without a vote, O’Donnell noted. ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE OFFERED Democrats had quietly courted Jeffords in recent weeks, offering him the chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee, according to sources familiar with the discussions, as well as retention of his seat on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. May 24 — Vermont voters have mixed feelings about Sen. Jeffords’ actions, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports Thursday. Jeffords currently chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that sources on the committee said one incident that rankled Jeffords was Sen. Lott’s refusal to let Jeffords clear Democratic amendments on the elementary and secondary education bill that the panel has been working on for the past five weeks. Jeffords’ predecessor as chairman had the authority to clear all amendments, but committee Democrats were required to submit their proposed amendments directly to Lott’s people. Jeffords told colleagues it was galling, Mitchell reported. Complicating the picture were reports that Republican leaders were reviving their effort to persuade Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., to switch parties and recreate the 50-50 tie in the Senate, leaving the Republicans at the levers of power. Miller has publicly said he intends to remain a Democrat. Another target of Republican recruiters could be Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a moderate Democrat who has occasionally been at odds with his party’s leaders. MAVERICK LAWMAKER Ideologically, Jeffords is in tune with his Vermont constituents, which means he is quite often at odds with Senate Republican leaders and with Bush. The president won only 41 percent of the Vermont vote last November, while Jeffords was re-elected to a third Senate term with 65 percent. Jeffords was the only Senate Republican to support former President Clinton’s health care legislation in 1994, and he also supported Clinton’s veto of Republican-backed legislation to ban certain kinds of late-pregnancy abortions. Jeffords also voted to acquit Clinton during his 1999 Senate impeachment trial. Jeffords angered the White House this spring when he refused to support Bush’s budget and its proposed $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax cut. Instead, he sided with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who forced changes on the Senate floor. The result was the first high-profile defeat for the new administration. Shortly after that, Jeffords was not invited to the White House for a National Teacher of the Year ceremony honoring a Vermont high school educator, a move viewed as political payback. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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