Franken objects to Lieberman taking a 'moment' for extra Senate remarks

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Updated 5:52 p.m.

By Joel Achenbach

Tensions flared in the Senate during an otherwise slow afternoon Thursday when Sen. Joe Lieberman asked for unanimous consent to extend some remarks on health care for "an additional moment." He didn't get it.



Lieberman, the independent from Connecticut, has in recent days infuriated his fellow members of the Democratic caucus by nixing any form of public health insurance in the Senate health-care reform bill under consideration. His actions have particularly enraged liberals, one of whom, Sen. Al Franken, the freshman Democrat from Minnesota, happened to taking his turn presiding over the Senate when Lieberman made his request to extend his allotted 10 minutes.



"In my capacity as the senator from Minnesota, I object," Franken said.



"Really?" Lieberman said, clearly shocked.



He chuckled. "Okay," Lieberman said, as if talking to himself. "Don't take it personally."



Moments later, Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who had Lieberman's energetic support during the 2008 presidential campaign, expressed outrage at what he'd just witnessed.



"I don't know what's happening here in this body, but I think it's wrong," McCain said. "I'll tell you, I have never seen a member denied an extra minute or so, as the chair just did."

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) quickly corrected McCain, saying that the same thing happened earlier in the afternoon.

He was referring to an attempt by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas (R.) to extend remarks by two minutes. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) was presiding at that moment, and objected. When Cornyn pointed out that there was no one else waiting to speak in the nearly empty chamber and demanded an explanation for Begich's objection, Begich backed down and Cornyn proceeded.



McCain, however, had missed that exchange.



"I just haven't seen it before myself, and I don't like it and I think it's -- it harms the comity of the Senate not to allow one of our members at least a minute," McCain said.

Lieberman laughed off the incident as much ado about nothing when he returned to the chamber a couple of hours later. He said that Franken apparently was following procedures for sticking to time limits that had been handed down by Senate leaders. Franken had made a good-natured gesture with his hands, Lieberman said, "as if to say 'There's nothing I can do'."



Lieberman said he appreciated his good friend McCain coming to his defense.



"No hard feelings," he said.

