By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 17, 2001; Page A04

The Senate has declared a cease-fire in the latest fight over its time-honored but widely criticized practice of allowing members to block action on legislation or nominations by putting anonymous "holds" on them.

As far as anyone knows, the Senate has not changed its obsession with secretive tactics. But Sen. Paul D. Wellstone (D-Minn.) succeeded Thursday night in passing a bill to expand programs for homeless veterans after Republicans removed holds on his measure in response to retaliatory holds he put on bills they wanted.

Among those bills was a measure extending a recently expired moratorium on Internet-related taxes for two years.

When Wellstone tried to bring up his veterans bill, he ran into anonymous objections from the GOP; so he decided to play hardball.

He served notice he would block every nonemergency bill that Republicans wanted until they let his bill come up for a vote. The tactic paid off when the GOP realized it could not pass the Internet tax bill without accommodating him.

According to a Wellstone aide, the standoff ended when a GOP leadership aide approached the senator and suggested the hold on his veterans bill would be released if Wellstone lifted his hold on the Internet tax bill.

Wellstone agreed, and both bills were approved by voice vote. He still doesn't know who put the hold on his legislation.

Wellstone's bill, similar to one passed by the House, would authorize increased funding for job training and placement programs, transitional services such as addiction recovery and centers for comprehensive services for the homeless.

He said he was gratified by the action but now wants something done about anonymous holds. "Surely there's got to be a better way to legislate," he said yesterday.

Reformers thought they had cured the problem two years ago when Senate leaders agreed on a policy requiring anyone placing a hold to disclose his or her identity to the bill's sponsor.

But there was no enforcement mechanism, and senators quickly began to wiggle around the requirement.

Wellstone said he intends to talk with Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in hopes of getting serious about stopping anonymous holds.