It sounded sincere in December when a handful of Republican senators said they wanted an investigation into the president’s warrantless-search program.
Senators of both parties on [12/20] demanded a congressional investigation into President Bush’s domestic-surveillance program, even as Vice President Dick Cheney warned that the president’s critics could face political repercussions.
Five members of the Senate Intelligence Committee – two Republicans and three Democrats – called for a joint investigation by their panel and the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, saying revelations that Bush authorized spying on U.S. residents without court approval “require immediate inquiry and action by the Senate.” […] Signing the letter requesting an inquiry were Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dianne Feinstein of California.
That was then. Now, the same Republicans who wanted investigation before seem willing to cave to White House pressure.
Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.
The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored motion to start an inquiry into the recently revealed program in which the National Security Agency eavesdrops on an undisclosed number of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents without obtaining warrants from a secret court. Two committee Democrats said the panel — made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats — was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it.
They attributed the shift to last week’s closed briefings given by top administration officials to the full House and Senate intelligence committees, and to private appeals to wavering GOP senators by officials, including Vice President Cheney. “It’s been a full-court press,” said a top Senate Republican aide who asked to speak only on background — as did several others for this story — because of the classified nature of the intelligence committees’ work.
This is more than disappointing; it’s counterintuitive.
Usually, Republicans are reluctant to stand up for their beliefs and confront the White House head on when they perceive the president as being in a position of strength. In this case, it’s the opposite — GOP senators like Olympia Snowe have seen Bush grow weaker over the last couple of months, but they’re backing down anyway.
It’s not just the president’s falling approval ratings; Americans have not responded terribly well to the administration’s defense of the warrantless-search program. Whereas in January, more Americans approved of Bush’s actions than disapproved, now those numbers are reversed. For that matter, according to Gallup, a 49% plurality now believe the president either “definitely” or “probably” broke the law with his surveillance program.
And yet, Republican senators who were skeptics — and in some cases, even critics — are now unwilling to even investigate the White House program. The president and his aides reinforce the idea that they have something to hide by urging the Senate not to ask too many questions, and the Senate plays along by reversing course on an investigation.
It’s not just Snowe, either; Sens. Hagel and DeWine recently expressed serious reservations about the president circumventing FISA, but this week suggested that they saw no need for a congressional investigation.
And what changed their minds? “An all-out White House lobbying campaign.” What could Bush possibly use as leverage at this point?