Party support in Senate erodes around Frist

WASHINGTON -- Senate majority leader Bill Frist, heading a 55-to-45 Republican majority, might have expected to deliver a pile of legislative gifts this month to the White House, which had hoped to end the year with $40 billion in budget cuts, approval to drill for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, and the full extension of the Patriot Act giving expanded powers to law enforcement.

But Frist, a Tennessee Republican with his eye on the White House, found his party in a pre-Christmas dogfight yesterday, with GOP lawmakers joining united Democrats in a series of embarrassing setbacks for President Bush and the Republican agenda.

The budget-cutting bill went through, but it required Vice President Dick Cheney to cut short an overseas trip to cast the tie-breaking vote. Further, Democrats succeeded in challenging a technical point on the bill that will force the House to vote on it again, delaying its adoption until at least late January.

Dismissing suggestions that it would be unpatriotic to block a defense bill, most of the Democrats -- joined by two Republicans -- staged a filibuster to block $453 billion in defense appropriations because the measure included authorization to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The defense appropriations bill later passed, stripped of the drilling authorization.

And last night the Senate voted to extend the Patriot Act by only six months to allow more negotiations over civil liberties protections. Earlier, a group of 52 senators, including eight Republicans, had signed a letter to Frist asking that he allow them to extend the act for just three months instead of making it permanent.

Republican leaders were also scrambling to get enough votes to approve another spending bill for the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. GOP moderates and Democrats balked at the package because it cut popular programs such as food stamps, scientific research, and the No Child Left Behind education programs.

Republicans attributed some of their party's defections to the politics of a looming election year and the willingness of moderate Republican senators from New England to defy the president.

But others say that Frist, balancing his presidential ambitions with the task of running the Senate, is not doing what's needed to keep his caucus together.

''I'm not sure Frist is the kind of guy who can deal with the Senate the way it is right now. I think you need a head-cracker, and I don't think that's his style," said Daron Shaw, a University of Texas political science professor who worked on the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000.

Senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican who lost the leader's post to Frist, said the GOP leader needed to be tougher on his colleagues to deliver the president's priorities. ''The leader has to be prepared to roll people," Lott said. Asked whether Frist was doing that, Lott said, ''No."

Frist and his supporters attributed the legislative losses and delays to ''obstructionist" Democrats and a few unruly Republicans.

''I think it's childish," Frist said of the efforts to stop the budget cuts. ''You'll have to ask individuals who voted against that, both on the Republican and the Democrat side," why they tried to thwart the president's priorities, he said.

Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, said it was unrealistic to expect Frist to keep the entire GOP caucus united on all legislation. ''I think the leaders need to clarify the issues to the American people" to build support. But ''if the votes aren't there, they aren't there," Sessions said.

Frist, a heart surgeon, was touted when he became leader in early 2003 as a sensible lawmaker who could heal bitter partisanship. When the GOP expanded its majority to a 10-seat margin after the 2004 elections, he appeared in an even stronger position to deliver for the White House and buttress his 2008 presidential bid.

But with the Democrats united behind a new minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Republicans more willing to defy an unpopular president, Frist's frustration has been obvious. The normally even-toned senator erupted last month when Senate Democrats demanded a closed session to discuss the congressional investigation into the intelligence used to build support for the Iraq war.

This week, Frist was unable to finagle support for key initiatives, especially from three Republican senators from New England -- Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Chafee voted against drilling in the wildlife refuge and the budget-cutting measure, and also signed the letter asking for an extension to renegotiate the Patriot Act.

Senator John E. Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, has been a leader in calling for changes to the Patriot Act, saying it erodes the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans.

''It's embarrassing for the Senate majority leader not to be able to hold things together, given the fact that he has a 10-seat margin," said Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University. ''It doesn't speak very highly to his leadership skills."

Lott and others said Frist's presidential ambitions are complicating his role as leader. As a candidate, Frist is under pressure to win over various GOP constituencies, but as leader, he must sometimes act like a school principal, refereeing disputes among members.

''It's tough to straddle a presidential campaign and a leadership position in the Senate. Most people who tried that in the past have failed at both tasks," West said, referring to such past Senate leaders as Bob Dole and Howard Baker, who became presidential candidates. ''They haven't ended up being president, and they lose control of the Senate."

Susan Milligan can be reached at milligan@globe.com