Mary Lynn F. Jones wrote a good item about Bush’s hostility for Congress, highlighting several recent examples of the president lying to lawmakers and/or ignoring them. It’s a helpful overview and definitely worth reading.
Jones notes, of course, the fact that the White House diverted $700 million from an appropriations bill that intended for the money to go the war in Afghanistan. Bush was supposed to notify Congress about the transfer, but there’s still no proof this actually happened. But as Jones notes, this wasn’t the first time and “you can bet it won’t be the last.”
It’s not the first time and you can bet it won’t be the last. In 2003, the administration hid the estimate of the Medicare prescription-drug plan to ensure that conservative lawmakers didn’t balk over the bill’s cost and vote the plan down. On numerous other measures, such as the No Child Left Behind bill, the administration put its mouth one place and its spending priorities somewhere else. And twice this year Bush has installed judges who could not win Senate confirmation, thwarting the Senate’s “advise and consent” role.
Of course, Bush has never prized Congress as a co-equal branch of government. Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly ignored questions from the General Accounting Office about his energy panel. Some lawmakers complained after 9-11 that they got more information from news reports than from intelligence briefings. And the White House’s stubbornness in stopping a committee hearing led Republican Representative Dan Burton to complain to USA Today in 2002, “This is not a monarchy.”
The question then becomes what Congress is going, or willing, to do about this. It’s not unusual, in a historical context, for a president to try and alienate Congress and consolidate power on his end of Pennsylvania Avenue. It is unusual for Congress to simply roll over and play dead in the midst of the power grab.
As Robert Kaiser noted in the Washington Post last month:
[T]he fact that the House (and, not quite as starkly this winter, the Senate) can sit passively by in the midst of war, the prospect of record-setting budget and trade deficits and countless other national dilemmas is a symptom of a momentous change in the status of the legislative branch, whose powers were considered so important that the writers of the Constitution enumerated them in Article I, leaving the presidency and judiciary for Articles II and III.
In fundamental ways that have gone largely unrecognized, Congress has become less vigilant, less proud and protective of its own prerogatives, and less important to the conduct of American government than at any time in decades. “Congress has abdicated much of its responsibility,” Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel said in a recent conversation. “It could become an adjunct to the executive branch.”
I can appreciate that partisanship is important, and that Republican control of the White House, Senate, and House means that everyone is supposed to be using the same playbook. But, really, this is pretty ridiculous.
As Jones’ item explained, Bush has taken to literally lying to lawmakers, playing them for fools that can be manipulated to advance his agenda.
It’s unlikely, but I’d like to see congressional Dems goad their Republican counterparts a bit. Shame can be a powerful motivator. I’d love Nancy Pelosi to publicly taunt Tom DeLay, saying, “Tom, the White House thinks you’re a tool. The president not only lies to you, he brushes it off when he gets caught. Are you just going to take this? Are you satisfied being Bush’s lap dog?”
Jones wrote:
Congress comes back this week from its spring recess, so this is the perfect time for lawmakers to ask Bush about this latest revelation. While Democrats will likely lead the charge, Republicans should be steaming mad, too. Bush’s decision to mislead Congress time and again should force lawmakers to demand that the president start treating them with honesty and respect.
True, but in order for the president to show Congress some respect, lawmakers will have to show they still has some backbone. We’re still waiting for proof that such fortitude still exists among Republicans on the Hill.