Signs of Life: Vote to Reverse Abortion Rule. Democrats may be turning the tables on the Blank Stare. Earlier this month, Republicans used a rarely invoked Senate rule — that can force a vote to rescind executive branch regulations — to reverse Clinton administration workplace safety protections. Now Senate Democrats, with the reported support of at least five Republicans (Olympia Snowe [ME], Jim Jeffords
[VT], Susan Collins [ME], Arlen Specter [PA] and Lincoln Chafee [RI] ), will use this maneuver to reverse Bush’s ban on US aid to advocates of abortion abroad. Recall that this was Bush’s first significant — and malignant — executive action after his inauguration, and that his responses to subsequent questions about the decision demonstrated his lack of understanding of its implications. Reuters