Big news!

Last week White House press secretary Tony Snow announced that the
Constitution has been re-written.

Here's what he told ABC News last week:http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002848.php

The executive branch is under no compulsion to testify to Congress,
because Congress in fact doesn't have oversight ability.

In case you thought that was a slip-up, here's what he told reporters
later that same day:http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002849.php

...the Congress does have legitimate oversight responsibility for the
Department of Justice.

It created the Department of Justice.

It does not have constitutional oversight responsibility over the
White House.

Oh really?

It's just that when I typed "congress" and "oversight" into Google,
the first result that came up was this official State Department web
page entitled "Oversight Powers of Congress" which says:http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/outusgov/over.htm

Dictionaries define "oversight" as "watchful care," and this approach
has proven to be one of the most effective techniques that Congress
has adopted to influence the executive branch.

Congressional oversight prevents waste and fraud;

protects civil liberties and individual rights;

ensures executive compliance with the law;

gathers information for making laws and educating the public;

and evaluates executive performance.

It applies to cabinet departments, executive agencies, regulatory
commissions, and the presidency.

(snip)

Time and again, the oversight power of Congress has proven to be an
essential check in monitoring the presidency and controlling public
policy.

Why, that appears to be the complete opposite of what Tony Snow just
said.

I wonder who is right?

Thank goodness that when Republicans were in charge of Congress and we
had a Democratic president, they were equally respectful of the idea
that Congress has no oversight power over the White House.

I mean, take this little tidbit from a 2005 article in the Boston
Globe:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/20/cong...

Back in the mid-1990s, the Republican-controlled House of
Representatives, aggressively delving into alleged misconduct by the
Clinton administration, logged 140 hours of sworn testimony into
whether former president Bill Clinton had used the White House
Christmas card list to identify potential Democratic donors.

In the past two years, a House committee has managed to take only 12
hours of sworn testimony about the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu
Ghraib prison.

The jarring comparison reflects the way Congress has conducted its
oversight role during the GOP's era of one-party rule in Washington.

Look, I know this Constitutional stuff can be confusing, so let me put
it in simple terms:

When the Legislative Branch is controlled by Republicans and the
Executive Branch is contolled by Republicans, Congress has no
oversight over the White House.

When the Legislative Branch is controlled by Democrats and the
Executive Branch is controlled by Republicans, Congress has no
oversight over the White House.

When the Legislative Branch is controlled by Republicans and the
Executive Branch is controlled by Democrats, Congress has an urgent
responsibility to investigate the president's Christmas card list, his
cat's fan club, and, of course, the contents of his underpants.http://www.pensitoreview.com/2005/12/26/gop-investigated-pres-clinton...

I don't know if that's exactly how the Founding Fathers intended
Congressional oversight to work, but if Tony Snow says it then I guess
it must be true.

By EarlG
Democratic Undergroundhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/

Harry