GOP fires salvos over attorney general nomination, January hearing

Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general, faces a tough confirmation process, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans signaled Thursday in announcing they want time to review Holder's record, including his ties to Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Committee Republicans were signing off on a letter asking Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to delay a Jan. 8 hearing on Holder, escalating a dispute that began this week.

"We are going to insist on having adequate time," Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said during a floor debate on Holder's nomination that the GOP senators triggered Thursday evening.

The senators took the floor to fault Leahy's decision to move quickly with a hearing despite objections from Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who wants more time to review 86 boxes of Justice Department materials from Holder's stint as deputy attorney general and other background material.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Republican aides said the lawmakers want more information on reports that Blagojevich in 2004 gave Holder a $300,000 job to provide legal advice to the state on an Illinois casino project. Holder announced he would take the position, then declined when he did not receive total access to documents he wanted, Chicago's WBBM-TV, a CBS affiliate, reported last month.

"Mr. Holder played a key role in very controversial matters," Grassley said, citing Holder's involvement in the pardon of financier Marc Rich and others by President Bill Clinton.

Grassley said he told Holder at a meeting Thursday that "the hearing won't be easy."

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he would block Holder's nomination if the confirmation hearing is not rescheduled. "We will not allow a vote to occur until we have thoroughly ... examined the record," Coburn said.

But none of the GOP senators said they oppose Holder. "I don't know if any of these controversial matters are enough to reject the nominee," Kyl said.

A Republican aide said Leahy's scheduling the hearing over Specter's objection makes confirmation harder. "Leahy overreached," he said.

A Leahy spokeswoman said the chairman scheduled the hearing only after Specter canceled a planned call to discuss the hearing.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., responding on the floor to the Republicans, suggested the committee is not rushing because Obama picked Holder earlier than incoming presidents customarily do. The average amount of time from an announcement to confirmation hearing is 29 days, Whitehouse said, noting the Jan. 8 hearing would come 39 days after Obama's announcement.

"The idea that he is being shoved through ... doesn't hold water," Whitehouse said.