Panel shuns recommendation on Bush Agriculture nominee

President Bush's nominee to head the Agriculture Department's rural affairs office made it past a key hurdle Thursday, but not without bruises.

The Senate Agriculture Committee, on a unanimous voice vote, decided to make no recommendation on the nomination of Iowa farmer Thomas Dorr, the Associated Press reported.

Nine of the 10 Republicans on the panel-except for Agriculture ranking member Richard Lugar of Indiana-boycotted the vote. Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called on the White House to nominate someone else.

Without an endorsement from the committee, the Democratic-controlled Senate has little obligation to vote on Dorr before Congress adjourns later this year, effectively letting the nomination die.

Bush, however, with Congress out of town for a month, could put Dorr into office through a recess appointment, which would allow him to assume the post through 2003 without a Senate vote.