I've been saying it for months, Bush has each division of our government in his pocket. It is a conflict of interest for our rebublican politicians to make this decision!!! They won't do anything to make their party look bad.
Our government is starting to look more and more like a dictatorship than the picture of Democracy we make ourselves out to be. Give me a break.
Vote out the Rebublican criminals in November!!!!!!!
Posted on Wed, Mar. 08, 2006
Domestic spying restrictions advance
But senators block call for inquiry
By JAMES KUHNHENN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an investigation into President Bush’s secret domestic spying program, but agreed to expand congressional oversight of the surveillance system in the future.
At the same time, four Senate Republicans began circulating legislation that would restrict the administration’s ability to eavesdrop on U.S. residents without court approval.
The legislation would require the administration to obtain warrants to eavesdrop on U.S. residents unless the attorney general certified to House and Senate intelligence subcommittees that seeking court approval would hurt intelligence gathering.
The legislation was sponsored by Sens. Mike DeWine of Ohio, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Olympia Snowe of Maine.
The legislation emerged as the Senate Intelligence Committee voted behind closed doors to block a Democratic demand for a full investigation into the program. The surveillance, which is carried out by the National Security Agency, tracks communications between al-Qaida suspects overseas and U.S. residents, according to the administration.
Democrats complained that the committee chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, was doing the White House’s bidding.
But Roberts, in an interview with Knight Ridder, said he had to persuade the White House to accept his proposal for a sub-panel of his committee to receive detailed briefings about operations of the secret program. Until now, the White House has occasionally briefed only eight members of Congress — the four Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate, and the chairmen and vice chairmen of both houses’ intelligence committees.
“My message to the White House was that the status quo was not satisfactory,” Roberts said. “They were pretty intransigent. I kept saying, ‘You’re not facing reality.’ ”
Roberts said he argued that if the White House didn’t yield on Congress’ assertion of greater oversight authority, Democrats would succeed in getting a broader investigation that could result in subpoenas, claims of executive privilege, and, potentially, a court clash between Congress and the White House.
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To reach James Kuhnhenn, send e-mail to jkuhnhenn@ krwashington.com