posted December 12, 2006 07:56 PM            

WASHINGTON - Shortly before the 109th Congress finally adjourned shortly before dawn Saturday, retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist took a rhetorical beating from his colleagues.

Some Republicans heaped scorn on Frist for what they saw as his role in losing last month's elections.

Others faulted him for fostering runaway federal spending. Several Democrats also joined in.

Late Friday night, House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said icily in a speech on the House floor that Congress' failure to pass nine of 11 appropriations bills, including one for returning soldiers' health care, "should be placed squarely at the feet of the departing (Senate) majority leader."

The House passed its version of the bills; the Senate did not.

And Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., a fiscal conservative, singled out Frist for criticism about a spending bill that passed the Senate.

Mentioning portions of the bill that included tax breaks for Tennessee residents and businesses, Gregg said, "You just have to ask yourself how we, as a party, got to this point, where we have a leadership which is going to ram down the throats of our party the biggest budget-buster in the history of the Congress under Republican leadership,"

Frist's communications director, Amy Call, fired back: "Dr. Frist has an exceptional record of service and these parting shots are not worthy of response, especially in light of the dignity and grace which has marked his tenure." http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/16206992.htm?source=rss&channel=charlotte_news