Today’s edition of quick hits.
* TPMM: “Despite the administration’s statements that a U.S. attorney would not be permitted to enforce a contempt citation from Congress, the House Judiciary Committee will vote Wednesday on whether to cite Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten with statutory contempt, according to a senior committee aide.”
* How might things go in the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow? Chairman Conyers issued a statement: “I’ve allowed the White House and Ms. Miers every opportunity to cooperate with this investigation, either voluntarily or under subpoena. It is still my hope that they will reconsider this hard-line position, and cooperate with our investigation so that we can get to the bottom of this matter.”
* Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) sure is a rabble-rouser, isn’t he? “One of the Senate’s most liberal members said Sunday that he would ‘shortly’ propose two censure resolutions against President Bush and his administration.” One of the potential complications: Feingold’s effort will be rather broad, encompassing Iraq-related misconduct, torture, warrantless searches, and the purge of U.S. Attorneys. On Meet the Press yesterday, Feingold characterized his effort as “moderate,” because it falls well short of impeachment.
* Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, wouldn’t say what techniques are and aren’t included in the president’s new interrogation guidelines, but he did concede, “I would not want a U.S. citizen to go through the process.”
* As part of the same interview, McConnell was asked if “policy makers [i.e., White House officials] hyped the intelligence” on Iraq before the war. McConnell would only say, “That’s a judgment that I think the American people will have to make.” That’s a far cry from “no.”
* Fred Barnes believes there will be more U.S. troops in Iraq in December 2007 than there were in January 2007. Given that Barnes generally can’t speak while Karl Rove is drinking water, one should probably assume this reflects the White House’s thinking on troop deployments in Iraq.
* Bob Novak seems a little confused about who to blame for the new 60-vote threshold to pass anything in the Senate.
* On a related note, Kevin has one of those posts I wish I’d written, explaining why Republicans are filibustering so much, instead of just letting Bush veto bills the GOP doesn’t like.
* Rifts between Bush and Cheney are exceedingly rare, and never publicized, but if asked, the VP was prepared to say last December that he “absolutely” disagreed with the president’s decision to fire Donald Rumsfeld. He was not asked, however, so he never said anything.
* David Broder managed to go an entire column today without criticizing Dems in some kind of pox-on-both-your-houses assessment of Washington. It was a very pleasant surprise.
* The WaPo’s Walter Pincus explained today that a new White House executive order titled, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq,” is intended to focus on freezing assets of those committing acts of violence in Iraq. Some of the language, however, is uncomfortably broad, and some are wondering if the E.O. could apply to Americans.
* A Democratic bill to expand S-CHIP to provide more access to health insurance for millions of middle-class kids has so much support, some believe Dems may have enough votes to override a Bush veto.
* AP: “Frustrated by delays in health care, a coalition of injured Iraq war veterans is accusing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.”
* Some odd right-winger has launched a new effort for conservatives to boycott products, services, and people who have even a tangential connection to Democratic politics.
* And finally, a quote of the day from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.): “I think we do agree this is the last chance for the Iraqis to get it right. But we ought to give one of our finest, if not our very finest, general a chance to see if he can succeed in the next few months.” He made the comment six months ago today.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.