The Call and Stall Congress
Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 06:44:15 PM PDT
The recent Congress could be tagged as the "Call and Stall" Congress. Democrats called for Congressional Oversight on a wide variety of topics and the Republicans stalled, whitewashed, and obfuscated.
Some inquiry calls were ignored, some calls for investigation were stalled, and some are supposedly "in the works." Remember, please, that this was the Congress that had plenty of time to investigate the use of steroids by major league baseball players. Not that this isn't a serious issue, but when contrasted with NSA domestic spying, questionable business practices and contracts by Halliburton, highly irregular statistics concerning the cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill, and the investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame and the destruction of the cover "Brewster Jennings," it seems pale in comparison.
This might be a good time to look at the track record of proposed investigations concerning: NSA domestic spying operations; Secret Prisons; Halliburton Contracts; the Plame Case; and energy policy.
Current Calls for Investigations
The Christian Science Monitor reports that Congress may be on the verge of substantive investigations
Monitor
"...In the closing weeks of the old year, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle set in motion an aggressive oversight agenda, ranging from secret prisons and the treatment of detainees under US control, to the president's authorization of domestic eavesdropping without a warrant."
Why be less than enthusiastic? Probably because we've all heard this before.
Democrats list 14 areas where the GOP majority has "failed to investigate" the administration, including the role of senior officials in the abuse of detainees; leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame; the role of Vice President Cheney's office in awarding contracts to Cheney's former employer, Halliburton; the White House's withholding from Congress the cost of a Medicare prescription drug plan; the administration's relationship with Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi; and the influence of corporate interests on energy policy, environmental regulation and tobacco policy.
Washington Post
See the 2004 List from the Democrats at
List of investigations requested How many of these promised investigations have been actually conducted?
NSA DOMESTIC SPYING OPERATIONS--Called
The Palm Springs newspaper outlines the justification for such hearings
"Granted, there are times when such spying may be necessary. There are those under suspicion of committing treasonous acts or suspected of posing a grave threat to the general public. To ensure such people are stopped before they cause harm, Congress has approved the wiretapping of American citizens with judicial authorization. This ensures that branches of government hold some power of restraint over other branches in a system of checks and balances. The surveillance law arose because past administrations spied on civil rights leaders and Vietnam War protesters for political rather than security purposes."
The two sides of the aisle are at loggerheads on this issue, with Jane Harman, ranking Democrat accusing the administration of violating the law, and Peter Hoekstra, Chairman rejecting that charge. The current head of the NSA told his employees on December 22, 2005 that they had nothing to fear about the legality of their operations. " Rep. Jane Harman, ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, has also accused Bush of violating the law by not allowing full congressional oversight of the program.
Administration officials have discussed the program only with a handful of lawmakers including congressional leaders and the top two members of the House and Senate intelligence oversight panels.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, forcefully rejected Harman's charge that the administration had violated requirements of the National Security Act."
Washington Post
On the Senate side the Select Committee on Intelligence is hearing calls for an investigation from: Hagel, Snowe, Feinstein, Levin, and Wyden.
There is hope that continual public concern about the domestic spying operations will translate into actual hearings, but the Bush Administration and allies in Congress have a good track record when it come to stalling any actual investigation.
We have yet to hear from the Phase II Senate investigation, and there are several other "scheduled" investigations that have stalled in the Republican controlled Congress.
HALLIBURTON CONTRACTS--Stalled
CorpWatch "...Members of Congress, who attended the hearing, called for a bipartisan
commission to review the Halliburton contracts. "This testimony doesn't just call for Congressional oversight -- it screams for it," said Senator Dorgan." Thus far the Republican controlled Senate has rejected calls for a full inquiry three times.
November 10, 2005 "Although Senate Republicans killed an amendment that would have established a special investigation into war profiteering by Halliburton and other companies by a vote of 53 to 44 today, they have pledged to investigate Halliburton before the end of the year. ...For two years, the Republican-controlled Senate has resisted public calls for a formal investigation into Halliburton, once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, even though it is being investigated for numerous violations, including criminal bid-rigging, overcharging of taxpayers, bribery and criminally profiting in a nation believed by President Bush to sponsor terrorism.
Although Republicans maintain that the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction is conducting an investigation, the Senate has failed to provide its own oversight.
Halliburton Watch
Senator John Ensign (R-NV) promised hearings in December, no session was scheduled for his Readiness and Management Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
SECRET PRISONS--Stalled
Senate and House called for the director of national intelligence to submit a classified report to the Intelligence Committees on secret prisons.
"At the 11th hour, the provision was stripped out of the FY 2006 Defense Authorization bill, with the understanding that the issue would be taken up directly by the intelligence panels." ..."If GOP chairmen fail to take up the issue, Democrats say they will use it in this year's midterm elections. "Twice now, Congress has overwhelmingly voted to require classified reports on the alleged secret prisons," says Sen. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts. The Senate vote was 82-9. The House vote, which was nonbinding, was 228-187."
CS Monitor Even with two votes to require the White House to divulge what went on in regard to the establishment of secret prisons, the White House and its water carriers on Capitol Hill have managed to stall oversight, and would rather have the issue fought out on the campaign trail than investigated by Congress? This seems to be a classic piece of evidence that the Bush Administration would much rather campaign in sound bites than govern with responsibility.
PLAME CASE--Stalled
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
"...plans hearings on potential national security threats posed by leaks, including leaks to the media, and will aim to toughen legislation barring the unauthorized disclosure of classified information."
Boston Globe
"...Speaking earlier at a forum hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation, Hoekstra said his committee would begin hearings as early as September that would include testimony from CIA, Pentagon and Justice Department witnesses."
Boston Globe
SUPPRESSION OF MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BILL COSTS:--Stalled
Democrats (Pelosi, Waxman, and eleven others, called for a Congressional investigation on September 08, 2004. Government Reform Minority Office
Here's some almost ancient history, and perhaps an object lesson into how long an inquiry can be stalled?
"According to the Knight-Ridder story last week, Tom Scully, former CMS Administrator, threatened to fire Foster if he revealed the higher estimates of the Medicare law to Congressional staff or the public prior to the bill's passage. According to the New York Times, Cybele Bjorklund, a House Democratic health policy aide, had been pressing the actuary since June for an estimate but was told by Foster that his job would be in jeopardy if he reveal the numbers to her. Bjorklund claims that when she approached Foster's boss, Tom Scully, he validated Foster's fear of termination if their estimates were disclosed. Scully refuted the accusation.
Regardless of whether threats were made or jobs were in jeopardy, it is clear that higher cost estimates were prepared and circulated among some insiders at the end of 2003, as the bill was being debated on Capitol Hill. Some policymakers believe that had the higher estimates been public knowledge, the prescription drug bill would not have passed in the House."
Weekly Washington Wire
FEMA AND FEDERAL RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA-- Stalled
Washington Post "Democrats, who have tried to get Davis to subpoena the White House for Katrina documents, are not impressed. "Republicans have made a mockery of oversight," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), the committee's ranking Democrat. "There was nothing too small to be investigated in the Clinton administration and there's nothing so big that it can't be ignored in the Bush administration." Washington Post (Chairman Davis responded that the White House would probably contest the release of documents past the committee's October 15, 2005 deadline, so no effective oversight could be accomplished).Washington Post Nothing like a short deadline, a recalcitrant White House, and a Republican controlled committee to insure that nothing will be done?
ENERGY POLICY--Stalled
"Congressional committees have failed to investigate the evidence that energy companies that contributed to the President's campaign wielded inappropriate influence over the development of the Administration's energy policy. In the early months of 2001, the Vice President led a task force that worked behind closed doors to develop the Administration's comprehensive energy policy. Press accounts identified a number of energy industry campaign contributors that met with the task force and reported that major contributors had private sessions with the Vice President. The White House energy plan that resulted from the task force's work contained dozens of specific recommendations from top energy industry campaign contributors such as Enron. Yet despite this evidence of inappropriate influence, congressional committees have failed to investigate who met with the Vice President's energy task force. For example, when Reps. John Dingell, Edward Markey, and Henry Waxman brought a resolution of inquiry before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Republican members of the Committee refused to permit debate on the motion and voted it down." (House Panel Rejects Democratic Push for Info on Cheney's Energy Task Force, Environment and Energy Daily Sept. 16, 2004).
House Democrats This probably holds the records for the inquiry that's been stalled by the GOP, calls for inquiry date back to the beginning of the Bush Administration, and the September 2004 call falls into the category of a reminder, rather than as an initial request.
Oh, and by the way, the House Ethics Committee hasn't scheduled an investigation in the past 12 months, must be because nothing is happening?
For additional information on hearings scheduled by the House of Representatives
For additional information on hearings scheduled by the Senate
Senate Committe web page listing
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