Reid Claims Vitter Is Strong Arming Salazar

Senate Majority Leader admonished Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) Wednesday for the Louisiana Republican’s vow to block a pay adjustment for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar until his department delivers six deepwater drilling permits per month.

“Given the completely unsatisfactory pace of your department’s issuance of new deepwater exploratory permits in the Gulf, I cannot possibly give my assent,” Vitter said in a letter to Salazar Monday.

In a statement, Vitter described the move as “my way of keeping the ‘boot on the neck’ of Interior until they get job the done,” a nod to an interview Salazar gave last year, wherein he said the government would keep a “boot” on BP’s neck following the massive Gulf Coast oil Spill.

“It is wrong for Sen. Vitter to try to get something in return for moving forward on a matter that the Senate has considered routine for more than a century,” Reid said in a statement. “[Salazar] deserves better than to be strong armed while trying to do an important job for the American people.”

Salazar was set to receive a $20,000 adjustment. Salazar has since asked that the raise should be withdrawn instead to prevent any coercion from Vitter.