It may sound like inside-pool for the inside-the-beltway crowd, but the wrangling over the style and composition of the probe of Katrina-related failures has become quite a power struggle. If you’re just joining us, the GOP believes in a Republican-driven probe in which officials will investigate themselves, while Dems want an independent analysis.<\/p>\n
Dems have been sticking to their guns, but there’s been some question about how long they could stick this one out. As it turns out, Bill Frist blinked first<\/a>.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), facing strong Democratic resistance to a proposed House-Senate investigation into governmental responses to Hurricane Katrina, yesterday agreed to let the two chambers pursue the matter independently. But Frist continued to reject Democrats’ call for an independent panel modeled on the Sept. 11 commission.<\/p>\n Congressional Democratic leaders had refused to cooperate with a House-Senate joint committee that Frist and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) proposed earlier this month. Democrats said a GOP-controlled bicameral panel could not be counted on to aggressively pursue mistakes made by the Bush administration before and after Katrina devastated New Orleans and other coastal communities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It’s a start, but we’re not there yet. Separate House and Senate inquiries won’t get at what the Dems really want to see: an independent, bi-partisan investigation. Indeed, according to plans<\/a> laid out by congressional Republicans, these House and Senate probes will have more GOP lawmakers than Dems and were shaped entirely by the Republican leadership.<\/p>\n