WASHINGTON - One of the Senate's old bulls is locking horns with Majority Leader Bill Frist over a stalled defense bill, spotlighting how fractious debate over the wartime measure has become.

The challenge by Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., a 27-year Senate veteran, is unusual because Warner is known for quietly seeking consensus rather than waging public battles. It's also rare for a defense bill written during a war to run into problems in Congress.

And the dispute illustrates how some of Frist's GOP colleagues have not hesitated to confront him in a year that has seen the Senate prove difficult to control. The potential 2008 presidential candidate has faced several setbacks, some at the hands of his own rank-and-file, and now federal investigators are examining his sale of stock in a health care chain owned by his family.

At issue is the annual bill that sets Pentagon policy and plans its spending. Although Warner's committee approved the bill in May, the full Senate might not end up voting on it. Unlike other authorization bills, the defense bill has been approved for the last 40 years.

Warner, 78, with only one year left as Armed Services chairman before having to step aside under Senate rules, doesn't want that streak broken on his watch.

"Sure as I'm standing on this floor right here, we're gonna have that bill up" for debate, the former Navy secretary vowed recently.

The stalemate began in July when Frist, R-Tenn., who shepherds President Bush's agenda through the Senate by deciding what bills get a vote, abruptly stopped debate on the bill. That avoided a high-profile fight over amendments, supported by Warner and sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., restricting the Pentagon's handling of detainees in the war on terror.

The White House had threatened to veto the entire measure over the issue and sent Vice President Dick Cheney to Capitol Hill to press the administration's opposition.

Frist also was concerned that the extraordinary number of amendments proposed — more than 200 — could eat away at time needed for other legislation. An aide said Frist hopes that the bill can be completed but it must be done "in a timely manner and with relevant amendments."

The majority leader has resisted scheduling a vote even as other Republican heavyweights bearing military credentials have lined up behind Warner.

Besides McCain, the former Vietnam War prisoner of war, they include Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record) of South Carolina, an Air Force lawyer for 20 years, and Sen. Ted Stevens (news, bio, voting record) of Alaska, chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee.

Formal and reserved in public, Warner is a loyal Republican known for reaching across party lines and keeping disputes private. He also has shown a willingness to buck the White House. Last year, he summoned top Pentagon officials to hearings about the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the Iraq war, drawing attention to issues the White House was hoping to play down.

In the spring, Warner was one of seven Republicans who joined seven Democrats in a deal that blocked Frist from banning filibusters of the president's judicial nominees. It is unclear whether Warner's involvement with the group has strained his relationship with Frist.

That pact was just one of several troubles that have befallen Frist this year.

A transplant surgeon, he drew some criticism when he questioned Terry Schiavo's diagnosis after viewing a videotape of her during the debate over removing her feeding tube. He also failed to get John Bolton confirmed as the United Nation's ambassador, a post Bolton gained only when Bush used his powers for a temporary appointment.

All that has weakened Frist, 53, who vaulted to the top of the Senate in 2002 with the support of the White House and most Republicans, including Warner.

Nevertheless, the tussle over the defense bill has given him an opportunity to show some muscle and remind GOP senators that he's still in charge until he retires next year for a possible presidential run.

Whatever control Frist does have almost certainly won't be enough to prevent votes on McCain's detainee amendments.

If Warner's bill isn't debated, McCain will seek to add his detainee proposals to Stevens' must-pass defense spending bill — despite another veto threat from the White House.

One option would be tacking Warner's measure onto the defense spending bill before the Senate this week. Warner views that as a last resort. In four decades, 1988 was the only time the bill had to be tacked onto other legislation.

Commentary:
Anti Torture Laws - nuff said on that issue.

But the bigger picture is more interesting. The GOP leadership is losing power fast. The Speaker of the House was forced to un-chose his replacement after DeLay was indicted and replaced by another right wing nut who's also ethically challenged, while Frist is forced to open up debate on torture abuse again.