Rep. John Conyers, Republicans Block Investigation of Domestic Spying Program

[Guest guest]

M

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 13:27:06 -0500

Rep. John Conyers, Jr: Republicans Block Investigation of

Domestic Spying Program

 

 

 

 

 

Republicans Block Investigation of Domestic Spying Program

By Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (Cross-posted at DailyKos)

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=Republicans_Block_Investigation

 

You may recall that a few weeks ago I introduced a resolution of

inquiry to obtain Justice Department documents about the President's

domestic spying program. Many of you are no doubt familiar with the

procedure for resolutions of inquiry; however, for those who are not,

a brief explanation. A resolution of inquiry requests information or

documents from the Executive Branch. The Committee to which it is

referred must vote on it within a specified period of time or the full

House must consider it. As a practical matter, if the Republicans want

to dodge an issue, they refer the bill to Committee and then

" adversely report " it, which kills it, stopping the request for

documents and protecting every non-Committee Republican from having to

vote on it.

 

Today, the House Judiciary Committee considered my resolution of

inquiry on the domestic spying program. The Resolution was rejected 16

to 21, with all Democrats and one Republican (Congressman Hostetler)

voting for it. A few quick impressions: first, I was surprised at how

half hearted the Republican defense of the program was. I would even

go further -- while some offered a full throated defense of the

program, many of my Republican colleagues seemed almost sheepish about

it, and many did not speak about it at all.

 

Second, Republicans repeatedly asserted that the documents were not

needed because Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner has unilaterally

submitted 51 questions (pdf) to the Attorney General, and that the

Attorney General would testify at a general oversight hearing at some

undetermined point in the future. I and the other Democratic Members

responded that this was wholly inadequate, and that to fulfill their

constitutional oversight role the Committee needed to obtain documents

from the Administration and hold separate hearings on the NSA issue.

[continued]

 

Complete article:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=Republicans_Block_Investigation

 

Mike Hersh

 

- MikeHersh.com - http://www.mikehersh.com

 

- Organizer, Democracy for America / Maryland

http://www.democracyforamerica.com

- Become a Sustaining PDA Donor: https://www.pdamerica.org/donate.php

- The After Downing Street Coalition -

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

- Convict Bush and Cheney - http://www.convictbushcheney.org

- The Media Watch Project - http://www.democrats.com/media

- Support Cindy Sheehan - http://www.meetwithcindy.org/

- BushOccupation.com - http://www.bushoccupation.com