advise and consent…

Posted on Wednesday 8 February 2006


 
The lawmaker, Representative Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, said in an interview that she had "serious concerns" about the surveillance program. By withholding information about its operations from many lawmakers, she said, the administration has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why.
 
In an interview on PBS’ "Newshour," Cheney was asked whether President George W. Bush was willing to work with Congress to settle some of the legal questions about the spy program.
 
"We believe … that we have all the legal authority we need," Cheney said. He said Bush had indicated he was willing to listen to ideas from the U.S. Congress and that members of Congress certainly have the right to suggest changes. "We’d have to make a decision, as the administration, whether or not we think it would help and would enhance our capabilities," he said.
"I think it’s important for us if we’re going to proceed legislatively to keep in mind that there’s a price to be paid for that and it might well in fact do irreparable damage to our capacity to collect this information," he said.

It’s certainly nice to have Republican Representative Heather Wilson coming out with questions about the N.S.A. Domestic Surveillance. Good for her to question the program. Good for her to speak out. But her questioning is based on the suspicions that the program might be being misused. I’m suspicious about that too. But it’s not enough.

Vice President Cheney’s comments point to the deeper issue in this contraversy. He makes it clear that he sees Congress as having a "right to suggest" changes in the program. Then he goes on to say that he sees going to Congress as optional. He as much as says that the President can pick and choose what he takes to Congress, based on whether he thinks they’ll go along with it.

The Constitution  uses the phrase "Advise and Consent." The Administration didn’t ask for Congress to "Advise" in the first place. They are skipping the Constitutional requirement for "Consent" altogether – as in their original decision when they skipped over the Judiciary. He in essence says that oversight of the Executive is optional, a choice.

How would the F.I.S.A. oversight or Congressional insistance that they follow the law have done "irreparable damage to our capacity to collect this information" if they are doing what they say they are doing? That statement makes absolutely no sense at all.

So Heather Wilson wants to look into things to see if they might be doing something illegal. They already did! They unilaterally declared the Constitution is not a binding document.

To my way of thinking, that is treason. 

 

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