Over the next few weeks, Senate Democrats plan to hold at least 11 hearings just on Iraq. In the House, one of the Democrats' most dogged investigators is waiting to spring his committee on a different mission - suspected government fraud.
From the war to environmental policy and secret surveillance, the Democrats who now control both the House and Senate are armed with subpoena power and ready to summon panels of witnesses.
These newly empowered Democrats plan to put the Bush administration under scrutiny like never before.
"One of the clearest messages of the last election was that the Republican leadership was just AWOL when it came to holding the Bush administration accountable," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Iraq is the focal point of Democratic efforts.
Besides the focus on Iraq, Democratic committee chairmen are planning their own policy oversight sessions with Bush officials.
"We need to be the watchdog," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
From his perch as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Waxman said he intends to tackle instances of "waste, fraud and abuse." He did not specify his first target, but previously has expressed interest in investigating federal contracts in Iraq and in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina struck.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he will examine the administration's policies on torture and other human rights issues. His request for data exposed one of the first rifts between the new Congress and the administration when the Justice Department refused to provide the committee with two secret documents that describe CIA detention and interrogation policies for suspected terrorists.
Leahy, D-Vt., stopped short of threatening the use of a subpoena to get the documents. But he told Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that he "would pursue this matter further" when the committee holds its first oversight hearing. More on the story.
2 comments:
Now we'll see alot of elected officials asking what happen to my spending money. Boner has to cut back on his hairdresser and nails. Cheney will just start stooting things. Bush will just get a hit from a mary jane and get drunk to forget. I still want to know what happen to that 400 billion dollars we gave Iraq with nothing to show for it.
Remember, France, Germany, and Italy have not yet paid us back for rebuilding after WWII.
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