Bill Frist, out of control, and Dick Durbin takes him to task for it.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A heated showdown over
President Bush's stalled judicial nominees began in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday with Republicans threatening to reduce Democrats' power in Congress if the conservative candidates are again thwarted.

Fierce debate over an expected bid to change centuries-old Senate procedures began immediately, with Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, accusing Democrats of using obstructionist tactics to "kill, to defeat, to assassinate these nominees."

The second-ranking Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, called the language offensive and urged it be withdrawn.

The parties have been lurching toward this face-off for months, and Republicans prepared for a vote in the coming days that could take away the Democrats' power to block judicial nominees with a procedural hurdle called a filibuster. It remained unclear, however, if they had the votes to prevail.

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