Connecticut Primary = End of Rubber Stamp Congress

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Wednesday August 09, 2006 · 6:18 AM PDT

2006/08/09 · 06:18

The American people spoke loud and clear yesterday in Connecticut, and we need to make sure their voices are heard from coast to coast.

Last night's results in Connecticut should make it clear to everyone in Washington that Americans are tired of an Administration that is contemptuous of Congressional oversight of the Executive Branch. They are tired of an Administration that accuses those who would question it of giving aid and comfort to terrorists. And they are tired of a White House that disregards the checks and balances our nation was built on.

Since George W. Bush has been in charge of the executive branch, the Republican controlled Congress has completely failed to conduct a host of constitutionally-mandated oversight activities, allowing a culture corruption and cronyism to take root in Washington and endangering the checks and balances fundamental to our system of government.

Here are just two brief examples of the Republican lead Rubber Stamp Congress:

ZERO CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT: Despite numerous reports that the Bush Administration has bent and broken the rules in a number of different federal agencies, the Republican controlled Congress has shown no interest in investigating them. "Back in the mid-1990s, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives ...logged 140 hours of sworn testimony into whether former president Bill Clinton had used the White House Christmas card list to identify potential Democratic donors. In the past two years, a House committee has managed to take only 12 hours of sworn testimony about the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison." [Dana Milbank, "Congress slammed for kid-glove oversight of White House GOP lawmakers have abandoned duties, critics say," Washington Post, 12/18/05].

BLANK CHECK ON IRAQ: During the three years it has been writing the checks for the Iraq War, Congress has never asked the Bush Administration for a real accounting of how it has spent this enormous sum of money. What we do know from press accounts and some internal investigations is that the Bush Administration has squandered billions of taxpayers' dollars on fraudulent contracts, waste, and dubious public relations projects. We also know that billions of dollars of Iraqi funds have totally disappeared. In the polite phrasing of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), for example, the Department of Defense has currently "lost visibility" on more than $7 billion in funds appropriated for the global war on terrorism. [Congressional Research Service, "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan and Enhanced Base Security Since 9/11," 10/7/05].

Voters in Connecticut just sent a message that it is time for Congress to stand up to an Administration that does little more than tell us to 'stay the course.'

The American people want a Congress that will stop acting like a rubber stamp, and start doing its job, a Congress that will start exercising its constitutional authority to check an Administration intent on drastically expanding its powers at the expense of the House and the Senate - and ultimately the American people.

It is time for a Congress that will take this country in a new direction and provide America with real safety and real security. - LMS

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