House Representatives Fight Amongst Themselves

Another day, another dramatic affair in the House of Representatives.  Republicans still  haven’t gotten used to the fact that they are the minority party now and they’ve been struggling with Democratic rule on all matters, but especially national security.  Today, the House ended up with bitter partisan feuding as the Democrats refused to work on the FISA legislation that President Bush insisted must be past with immunity for telecommunications companies.

So instead of tackling the FISA legislation that they thought Republicans might help push over to the White House desk, they decided to do something rather drastic.  Cite a pair of Bush cronies for contempt of Congress, something that Republicans have been fighting for some time.

The House voted 223-23 to hold President Bush’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress.  Miers was named for failing to appear before House panels investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006 and 2007, and both were accused of withholding documents related to the matter.  House Republicans walked out Thursday afternoon to protest the Democratic leadership’s decision to vote on the contempt motion instead of a controversial surveillance bill.

After the Republicans returned from their protest, there was an exchange of partisan attacks and accusations by both sides of political games by House leaders on both sides.

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Florida, said Democrats are “more interested in a political witch hunt” than in protecting the country.

The interesting point on this entire matter is that one side calls it a political witch hunt instead of protecting the country, while the other believes it IS protecting the country by issuing the citations.   It’s hard to say if the House will find a way to agree with the Senate on controversial provisions that each version of the Bill put forth, but if they do not agree then FISA’s authority will run out on Saturday.

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
Email this author | All posts by Fred Soto