Debbie says: Sierra Club opposed the nomination of Dorr.  I noticed the name Lowell Junkins in the article. He is from Iowa, too. He is a former state senator - Democrat.

Inside Washington

By SALLY SCHUFF

Feedstuffs Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It appears Iowa's Tom Dorr has an ongoing problem with the Senate Agriculture Committee. The problem is that, for the second time, the committee can't seem to give a thumbs up to his nomination. That's telling since Republicans are now in the majority. Last year, when Democrats ruled the committee, it wasn't so surprising.

Dorr's nomination for a permanent post as the Bush Administration's top U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development official came up for a vote in the Senate committee May 21. It was included on the agenda along with votes of three candidates for the Farmer Mac board of directors. There was a brief period when enough Senators were in the committee room to approve the nominations of Lowell Junkins, Julia Bartling and Glenn Klippenstein for Farmer Mac and to move them to the Senate floor for a final vote.

Next was Dorr's turn. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the committee's ranking Democrat, insisted Dorr should face a full, new committee hearing on his confirmation this year. In other words, start the process over for Dorr. Now Dorr and his sponsors could face the possibility of another testy hearing like the one held last year.

Harkin then announced he would launch into a detailed statement -- call it a filibuster -- on the committee's scheduled Dorr vote. That's when Senators started filing out of the committee room, making it impossible for Chairman Thad Cochran, a Republican from Mississippi, to hold onto a quorum for the vote. A second committee meeting later in the day also failed to gain a quorum.

Last year, at a formal confirmation held by the Senate committee, small-farm advocacy groups, who don't trust Dorr to represent their concerns, put up strong opposition to his appointment.

In addition, opponents at that first hearing -- including Harkin, who was then the committee's chairman -- pointed to improprieties in Dorr's management of his family's USDA farm programs. Those problems meant Dorr twice had to repay USDA $17,000 in farm program benefits.

Concerns about his confirmation apparently haven't gone away despite the loyal support of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee as well as serves on the Senate agriculture committee.

Before last week's non-action in the ag committee, Grassley had predicted the nomination would clear the committee, but he said publicly that Dorr's nomination could face procedural obstacles on the floor. Now it appears there may be obstacles all along the way.

Interestingly, wire services report that members of President Bush's cabinet have been asked to resign by this fall if they've had enough of Washington -- or to stay with the Administration through next year's campaign and election.

That request is apparently aimed at minimizing any appearance of disunity with the Bush Administration ranks during the campaign and at minimizing any potential confirmation battles.

So far, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Todd-Whitman have announced they will leave -- both with an eye on improving family time.

In addition, some Supreme Court justices could be eyeing this summer to retire. Given past problems with federal bench judicial nominations, the White House may have its hands full.