Pat Dollard | Young Americans

“House Repulicans are furious”

Politico:

Following an angry partisan debate and a dramatic walkout by Republicans, the House on Thursday approved motions to begin criminal and civil contempt proceedings against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriett Miers for failing to comply with subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary Committee.

The vote was 223-32 and came after House Republicans – yelling “Work, work, work” – marched out of the chamber en masse to protest the fact that the Democrats were focused on the contempt issue rather than on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation the Senate passed earlier in the week.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who led the Republican walkout, called the contempt resolutions “political grandstanding” and a “fishing expedition.” But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said that the House had to move forward on the contempt motions in order to preserve its ability to oversee the executive branch.

The tumultuous and chaotic day at the Capitol exploded out of two long-simmering disputes between Congress and the White House, one over Congress’ ability to compel testimony from executive branch officials, the other over the expanded surveillance powers Congress gave the president – temporarily – when it adopted the Protect America Act last year.

The Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Bolten and Miers last June as part of its probe into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. But the White House, citing executive privilege claims, refused to allow either Bolten or Miers to testify before the committee or to provide the documents it is seeking. Pelosi noted that Conyers had sent nine different letters to current White House Counsel Fred Fielding seeking a compromise that would allow Bolten and Miers to appear, but Fielding refused to allow either aide, or former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, to testify in public or under oath.

“I had hoped frankly this day would never come,” Pelosi said. “This is not a conflict the Congress has sought.” Pelosi said the Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas were part of a legitimate investigation into “politicization of the Department of Justice.”

The motions passed Thursday authorize criminal and civil contempt proceedings against Bolten and Miers, although it is unlikely that a criminal case will actually be brought against either of them because the Justice Department, which would normally represent the House in such cases, has already stated that it will not prosecute an executive branch official for resisting a subpoena on executive privilege grounds.

While Conyers can also use the House general counsel’s office to initiate a civil contempt case, that route is long and potentially risky as it could result in a ruling against the House, thereby creating a precedent that would effectively extend presidential power at Congress’ expense. Conyers said that he will not immediately seek to begin civil contempt proceedings but will instead make one final offer to Fielding next month. If that offer is rebuffed, Conyers said he would then initiate legal actions.

At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino called the contempt motions “unprecedented,” “outrageous,” an “incredible waste of time” and “a blatant sop to the far left.”

House Republicans were infuriated by the legislative procedure the Democrats used to pass the contempt motions. They attempted on several occasions to force the House to adjourn rather than continue the contempt debate, angering Democrats who claimed that they were purposely disrupting a memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who died Monday. An aide to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) shot off an e-mail calling Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart’s motion to adjourn “incomprehensible.” After Diaz-Balart took to the floor to raise a “question of personal privilege” to complain about the e-mail, Hoyer said he “regretted” the morning’s events but did not apologize for the aide’s message.

Republicans – in Congress and at the White House – were also angry that the House was dealing with the contempt issue instead of taking up Senate legislation that would extend the Protect America Act, which is set to expire Friday night. The House is off next week for a Presidents’ Day recess, but President Bush threatened Thursday to postpone a trip to Africa so that he can force Congress back in session to deal with the surveillance issue. If the Protect America Act expires, he said, “Our ability to find out who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning will be compromised.”

That charge was repeated over and over again by House Republicans, but Pelosi – who tried but failed to get a short-term extension of the Protect America Act through the House Wednesday — was unmoved and prepared to adjourn the chamber for a week as scheduled. She said “the principals,” including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), are still working on hammering out differences with the Senate version of the bill and will be available next week during the recess.

However, Pelosi cautioned there was some “heavy lifting” left to do on the issue of retroactive immunity for telecom companies that aided the government in intelligence gathering, which was included in the Senate version of the bill but not the House’s. Pelosi also strongly denied Bush’s claim that Democrats were endangering national security, saying that the president has all of the tools to keep the country safe under existing FISA laws. “The president knows full well that he has all of the authority he needs to protect the American people,” Pelosi said. “His fear-mongering is not constructive.”

Added Reyes: “Not only is the sky not falling, the sky is actually quite well monitored at this time.”