Leaders confirmed for FEMA, Interior

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 27, 2006 | by Eric Lipton New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON -- In addition to confirming Gen. Michael Hayden as the new CIA director Friday, the Senate also confirmed R. David Paulison on Friday as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a day after he assured lawmakers that tax-return errors found during the confirmation process would be quickly remedied and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho was approved for interior secretary, succeeding Gale A. Norton, who stepped down in March.

Paulison's confirmation, by unanimous consent, came on a day when the Senate, in advance of a weeklong recess, moved to fill a number of other positions as well, including those of interior secretary, federal appeals court judge and director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Paulison, 59, a former chief of the Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Department who heads the U.S. Fire Administration, has been serving as acting FEMA director since succeeding Michael D. Brown in September.

While his nomination was under review, Senate staff members found that in recent years he had taken improper tax deductions concerning travel between Florida and Washington.

In a letter Thursday to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Paulison said that the "previous advice I have received on state filing requirements and eligible federal deductions was in error" and that he would promptly pay any related delinquent taxes, penalties and interest. An official of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA's parent, said the federal taxes amounted to less than $10,000.

The committee's chairwoman, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Thursday that she considered the matter resolved.

The Senate also filled two other vacancies Friday at the Homeland Security Department: David L. Norquist won confirmation as the department's chief finance officer, and W. Ralph Basham as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

Kempthorne was opposed by some Democrats after saying he was open to supporting an expansion in oil and gas drilling in public lands and waters.

"As a part of my promise to Florida," said Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from that state, "I have said I could not support an interior secretary who would advance this administration's willingness to acquiesce to the oil lobby and its ever-increasing desire for greater profits."

Eight Democrats indicated their opposition to Kempthorne's confirmation before it was approved on a voice vote.

But confirmation of Brett M. Kavanaugh to a seat on the federal appeals court here drew the day's most adamant opposition. Kavanaugh, 41, first nominated to the court three years ago, was approved on a vote of 57-36.

Kavanaugh, staff secretary to President Bush and one-time aide to Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, was described by Democrats as too partisan and lacking in experience for the seat. The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said the nominee had spent "his short legal career in service to partisan Republican causes."

Still, the opponents were unwilling to provoke a confrontation with Republicans by blocking confirmation with a filibuster. That tactic could have prompted Republicans to respond with the so- called nuclear option, a rules change permanently barring the filibustering of judicial nominees. Republican leaders threatened such a move last year before a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise.

Kavanaugh's confirmation was a victory for Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, who is contemplating a run for president and was under pressure from conservatives to win this battle.

In other confirmations Friday, the Senate approved Robert J. Portman as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Robert I. Cusick as director of the Office of Government Ethics.