Tonight brings the welcome news that Arlen Specter might be getting a bit of a
spine when it comes to executive overreach in intelligence.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Thursday he delivered a message to Bush that cut to the heart of the debate over executive power.
"I made the point that the president doesn't have a blank check," Specter said about their meeting Wednesday. "He didn't choose to engage me on that point."
Without a pledge from Bush to provide more information on the surveillance program, Specter filed an amendment to a spending bill Thursday that amounted to a warning to the White House.
The amendment would enact a "prohibition on use of funds for domestic electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes unless Congress is kept fully and currently informed."
Specter also said he would turn the amendment into a bill and hold hearings.
"Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment," Specter said. "If we are to maintain our institutional prerogative, that may be the only way we can do it."
Specter made clear that, for now, the threat was just that.
See, Arlen, you totally had me until that last little bit there. How much more nose-thumbing from BushCo is it going to take before you realize that they have no intention of playing nice, and if you're going to get answers, you have to do it with the force of the purse-strings?
Nonetheless, Specter's not-really-a-threat is accompanied by the positive development that the committee is delaying consideration of several bills on the warrantless wiretapping issue. Given that the committee has been working entirely in the dark, with no cooperation whatsoever from the administration in terms of information about their domestic surveillance programs, this is a positive step.
It's a much needed step, given last night's Intelligence reauthorization bill, which sailed through the Republican Rubber Stamp House, 327-96. There were a number of critical "no" votes, but the most important was Jane Harman's, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. This is the first time she has ever voted against an Intelligence authorization package.
"I've never been as concerned about our nation's security as I am this week," said Jane Harman (D) of California, the ranking Democrat on the panel. "We still don't have a handle on Al Qaeda," she said. "Our intelligence reorganization is in a slow start-up, and the CIA is in free fall." The longest-serving member on the committee, she voted against the annual intelligence authorization bill for the first time, citing inadequate oversight on government leaks, warrantless wiretaps, and inadequate protections for civil liberties.
Particularly discouraging was the voice vote defeat of an amendment offered by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Harman which would simply would have required that all domestic spying on Americans comply with federal law, and that intelligence agencies would have to supply Congress of the names of those surveilled. The House of Representatives defeated an amendment requiring intelligence agencies to comply with the law.
Senator Specter, please don't let the Constitution be gutted on your watch.