Pryor wants law changed after the firing of Cummins (UALR Public Radio) - U.S. Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas says that now that it has been confirmed that Bud Cummins was fired last year as a federal prosecutor in Little Rock so he could be replaced by a former White House aide, Congress will act quickly to change a law that allows for such behavior.

The Bush administration was able to remove Bud Cummins as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and replace him with a former deputy to White House political advisor Karl Rove because of a provision in the USA Patriot Act that allows for indefinite interim appoints without Senate confirmation.

Pryor says he is sponsoring legislation that would call for Senate confirmation of a prospective U.S. attorney within 120 days. But he says he doesn't know if that will in any way affect Cummins' replacement, Tim Griffin, or any of the other six prosecutors around the nation who were forced out of office.

"That's a different matter and I don't right now if there is any plan to try to get them out of office. I guess it depends on what final language passes the Senate and the House to see if some of that might be retroactive or might start a clock running," says Pryor.

Meanwhile, Cummins has said that while he thinks his situation was handled poorly, he remains a Bush loyalist because he feels he serves at the will of the President.

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