Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole says he rejected an offer by Sen. Mark Hatfield to resign from the Senate so that the balanced-budget amendment that Hatfield opposed would not go down to defeat.
Hatfield, resisting pleas from his Republican colleagues, was the lone Republican to vote against the constitutional amendment last week. He joined 33 Democrats to send the amendment, which needed approval by two-thirds of the senators, to a one-vote defeat.Dole, R-Kan., speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, said the Oregon senator still faces possible recriminations from his fellow Republicans, who are drafting a letter to Dole discussing Hatfield's defection.
"I haven't made that judgment," Dole said when asked whether Hatfield might be forced to step down from his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I can find other senators who have sort of strayed away on different votes this year."
But Dole said Republicans were frustrated about the Hatfield vote, and new members in particular "feel that this ought to be examined."
He said Hatfield "made a mistake. He's part of the leadership." Dole said he told Hatfield before the vote that his opposition was a reflection on the Republican Party and its Senate leader.