Republican Senators

WASHINGTON - The prospect of congressional approval of a federal "media shield" law this year dimmed yesterday when Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources. Supporters of the shield bill said it was possible - but unlikely - that the issue would be revived in September, after the Senate takes a planned monthlong recess starting this weekend. Otherwise, backers of the bill would be forced to try again in January, when a new Congress convenes.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget for next year was approved by the Senate after an unusually brief debate Wednesday in a sign of the state's improved fiscal condition. Senators voted 42-5 to pass the $36.8 billion budget and send it to a conference committee with the House. All 35 Democrats and seven Republicans voted in favor of the budget, which comes close to eliminating what was once a nearly $2 billion long-term revenue shortfall. "I can't remember any time the budget was adopted by a larger margin.

"There's a lot I have to learn about this town," President Clinton remarked this week after a Republican filibuster killed his jobs-stimulus bill in the Senate. Indeed there is. But before this setback is chalked up solely to his inexperience, a word needs to be said about inept Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill. Not only did it fail to keep its own troops in line, or to warn Mr. Clinton of disaffection in the ranks, but it totally misjudged what was happening in the Republican camp.How, one might ask, could Senate Democratic leaders go so wrong?

Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget for next year was approved by the Senate after an unusually brief debate Wednesday in a sign of the state's improved fiscal condition. Senators voted 42-5 to pass the $36.8 billion budget and send it to a conference committee with the House. All 35 Democrats and seven Republicans voted in favor of the budget, which comes close to eliminating what was once a nearly $2 billion long-term revenue shortfall. "I can't remember any time the budget was adopted by a larger margin.

THIS WEEK's "Shoot Yourself in the Foot" award goes to the Young Turk Republican senators who called for the head of Republican Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon.Did it sting to have Senator Hatfield cast the deciding vote to kill the balanced budget constitutional amendment? Of course. Senator Hatfield was the lone Republican to oppose the measure. If Republican solidarity on the issue had been complete, the bill would have passed despite the 33 Democratic senators who voted "no."But the spin on an event is key, and that is where the conservative firebrands made a mistake.

Bill's protectors want to close Pennsylvania Avenue. Republican senators would rather sell off the White House.If it is not established by state law, if its leaders are not appointed by the governor, if it is not subject to the governor's command, it is not the militia, no matter what name it chooses to give itself.If only Bill could handle Newt as effectively as he deals with Boris.Nobody for Mayor!

Everyone argues about zero tolerance as if he or she knew what it means. Stop the world! Republican senators want to get off. A guy won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for discovering that proteins carry signals that act as zip codes helping them find their correct locations with the cell. Physicians who actually treat patients without sending bills won the Nobel Prize for Peace. Peter has gone too far this time, expecting the state to honor its side of its own contract.

.. The drumbeat of doubt from Republican senators over the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers grew louder yesterday as several lawmakers, including a pivotal conservative on the Judiciary Committee, voiced new concerns about her selection. Emerging from a weekly luncheon of Republican senators in which they discussed the troubled nomination, several lawmakers suggested that as Miers continues her visits to Capitol Hill, she is not winning over Republican lawmakers. "I am uneasy about where we are," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican on the Judiciary Committee who had so far expressed only support for the president's choice.

Republican senators sent strong signals Tuesday that they intend to put up a fight over a bill that would ban smoking in a vehicle occupied by a child under 8 -- a proposal some GOP lawmakers see as an intrusion into people's private space. The legislation, sponsored by Montgomery County Democratic Sen. Jennie Forehand, won 7-4 approval last week from the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, but the bill ran into skeptical questioning as it made its first appearance on the Senate floor for the adoption of amendments.

WASHINGTON - Republican senators continued their steady drive toward passing more stringent bankruptcy legislation yesterday, knocking down a series of Democrat-sponsored amendments to exempt seniors and those facing medical hardship from some of its provisions. The bill, expected to pass the Senate next week, would impose new hurdles for those seeking to erase debts through bankruptcy in an effort to force more Americans to pay back more of what they owe. The measure has been a longtime priority for banks and credit card companies that want to collect more on their debts.

President Barack Obama had a dinner date last week with a dozen of his worst enemies, thus proving that the governmental stalemate in Washington, D.C., is driving him to unusual acts of political creativity -- or desperation. The president personally picked up the tab for the private dinner at the Jefferson Hotel, and the guests were all Republican senators, including John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Dan Coats (Ind.)

John Fritze's recent article on the appointment of U.S. Magistrate Paul W. Grimm to a U.S. District Court seat ("Senate confirms Towson resident Grimm for U.S. judgeship," Dec. 4) reported the key point: Senate gridlock delayed action even though Paul Grimm's February nomination was "uncontroversial - members of both parties supported him. " Indeed, U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski urged swift action on other judicial nominees, 15 of whom were reported by voice vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Very few things unite Democratic and Republican senators in Washington. But unfortunately, one thing that does is attacking the human rights of Palestinians. And now they're are at it again. This time in the form of an anti-Palestinian amendment sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer, Robert Menendez, John Barrasso and Lindsey Graham that would punish the government of Palestine for seeking United Nations recognition and heavily sanction it if it petitions the International Criminal Court for Justice.

Much ink has been spilled in recent weeks criticizing the Republican Party and its failed presidential candidate for a lack of compassion and obvious antipathy toward "47 percent" of the electorate (if not a bit more), so it was reassuring to see two of its more prominent leaders offer a message of inclusion and uplift at a Jack Kemp Foundation dinner on Tuesday. Too bad that on the same day, Republicans were reverting to form in the Senate chamber. There, the late Mr. Kemp's 1996 top-of-ticket running-mate, Bob Dole - recently released from hospital care and assisted by wheelchair - was unable to coax sufficient GOP support for what should have been a no-brainer for members of a truly compassionate party: the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities.

Republican senators sent strong signals Tuesday that they intend to put up a fight over a bill that would ban smoking in a vehicle occupied by a child under 8 -- a proposal some GOP lawmakers see as an intrusion into people's private space. The legislation, sponsored by Montgomery County Democratic Sen. Jennie Forehand, won 7-4 approval last week from the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, but the bill ran into skeptical questioning as it made its first appearance on the Senate floor for the adoption of amendments.

The governor's bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland sailed through the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be debated on the Senate floor as early as Wednesday. Supporters easily defeated two proposed amendments. Either could have killed the bill because any changes would have required another vote in the House of Delegates, where the measure passed by a narrow margin Friday. Even opponents said they expect the full Senate to approve the legislation.

WASHINGTON - His voice choking, Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin took to the Senate floor yesterday and offered "heartfelt apologies" for comparing America's treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center to the Nazis, Soviets and other murderous regimes. The apology came after a week of drumbeat criticism against Durbin, the assistant Democratic leader, from the White House, from Republican senators, from conservative activists and, finally, from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, a fellow Democrat.

The Maryland Senate's Republican leader predicted yesterday that the majority of his caucus will support whatever decision Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. makes on how to raise money for transportation - even if it means voting for tax and fee increases. Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus said the 14 Republicans in the 47-member Senate are far from agreed on how the governor should go about replenishing the state's Transportation Trust Fund. The Eastern Shore lawmaker said the mix of any revenue package and how the money would be spent will be the subject of negotiations.

F or years, Republicans in the General Assembly have been carping that Democrats spend too much, but rarely have they said what they would do instead. They occasionally propose an across-the-board spending cut - a bad idea that fails to set any priorities. But often they eschew specifics, saying that if they offered any, they would only be fodder for Democratic demagoguery. Their grandstanding has been particularly galling since the vast majority of them voted for the biggest spending increases in decades when a Republican held the governor's office.