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October 27, 2009
W.H. Tells Congress That 'Czars' Won't Testify
W.H. tells Congress that policy 'Czars' won't testify
also
The White House has told Congress it will reject calls for many of President Obama's policy czars to testify before Congress - a decision senators said goes against the president's promises of transparency and openness and treads on Congress' constitutional mandate to investigate the administration's actions.
Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, said White House counsel Greg Craig told her in a meeting Wednesday that they will not make available any of the czars who work in the White House and don't have to go through Senate confirmation. She said he was "murky" on whether other czars outside of the White House would be allowed to come before Congress.
Miss Collins said that doesn't make sense when some of those czars are actually making policy or negotiating on behalf of Mr. Obama.
"I think Congress should be able to call the president's climate czar, Carol Browner, the energy and environment czar, to ask her about the negotiations she conducted with the automobile industry that led to very significant policy changes with regard to emissions standards," Miss Collins said at a hearing Thursday that examined the proliferation of czars.
The debate goes to the heart of weighty constitutional issues about separation of powers. The president argues that he should be allowed to have advisers who are free to give him confidential advice without having to fear being called to testify about it. Democrats and Republicans in Congress, though, argue that those in office who actually craft policy should be able to be summoned to testify because they do more than just give the president advice.
At issue are the 18 positions Miss Collins says Mr. Obama has created since he took office. Of those, she says 10 - the White House says eight - are in the executive office and not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests or requests for testimony.
Czar is an informal term given to the positions.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent and chairman of the government affairs committee, asked the White House to provide a witness for Thursday's hearing but it did not send one.
In a letter last week to Miss Collins, though, Mr. Craig explained that the White House is not trying to circumvent Congress.
"We recognize that it is theoretically possible that a president could create new positions that inhibit transparency or undermine congressional oversight. That is simply not the case, however, in the current administration," Mr. Craig wrote.
Criticism of czars has boiled over after talk-show host Glenn Beck - who senators at the hearing repeatedly referred to as "he who shall not be named" - began a campaign to highlight their proliferation in the Obama administration. But Miss Collins said she's been looking at czars for months, and she doesn't have problems with many of the czars Mr. Beck has criticized.
Still, Mr. Craig spent two pages of his four-page letter to Miss Collins critiquing Mr. Beck's positions.
Legal experts testifying before the Senate panel said Congress needs to be careful not to overreach in reacting. They said options open to lawmakers include writing new laws to restrict advisers' authority or writing the positions into law as needing Senate confirmation. A White House aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they are trying to work to accommodate "all reasonable congressional requests for information" and said some White House advisers have given informal briefings to members of Congress in lieu of testimony.
The aide also said some czars are outside the White House itself and they can be called to testify. The aide said five of them have already done so.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, blasted Republicans for raising the issue and said she took offense at their comparisons between Mr. Obama and President Nixon.
She said Congress should instead be looking at the legality of presidential signing statements to shape how laws are implemented - a tool whose use expanded substantially under President George W. Bush.
Last month, Miss Collins offered an amendment to compel administration officials to testify, but it was ruled not germane to the bill being debate.
Democrats said it went too far because it would have covered all executive branch employees, including the national security adviser and the chief of staff, who have always been recognized as out of bounds.
Miss Collins said the issue shouldn't be so intractable and that Congress and the White House should be able to agree on a list of people who should be able to testify.
For his part, Mr. Lieberman said he's still looking for a good solution.
"We both share a desire to do something about this to help Congress uphold our responsibility for oversight, but we understand the balance here as reflected in the Constitution," he said.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Constitutional scholar My ass! he’s a phony and his Administration is rife with unconstitutional...illegal... acts and actors. His ..administratiomn needs to be hauled before the Supreme Court, and keelhauled for the extra constitutional crimes he and his underlings are committing.
Obama is building a government that is outside the framework of the Constitution!!!!
This WH and the Obama administration is so living in fear of everything and everybody, left and right and independent that they are coming apart at the seams and their plummeting poll numbers certainly reflect those fears. I believe their is a great deal of panic behind those WH doors.
.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at October 27, 2009 06:49 AM
Comments
Chrissie, your statement that obama is buiding a government that is outside the framework of The Constitution is so correct. obama hates The Constitution. He was supposed to be a constitutiona scholar, but I think he studied it the way a good soldier studies his enemy.
The czars are little dictators doing obama's bidding. They enable obama to circumvent The Constitutional restrictions put on the Executive Branch. obama has a friendly Congress which so far seems to happily cede lots of it's power to the WH. It is a bad situation for the freedom of the American people.
However, a lot of Americans are rising up and saying this is way too much. The Tea Parties are just a step. The midterm elections are only a year away. If we don't revolt before then there may well be a major revolt at the polls. If that doesn't occur, then I believe the cause of freedom has lost.
Posted by: TomR at October 27, 2009 11:57 AM
Like Eliot Ness and the untouchables of FDR's era. Psst, Congress, czars replace congressmen under a dictatorship, where are your nads?
Posted by: Jack at October 27, 2009 01:55 PM
It's baffling to me that Congress is letting this happen. You hear very little from the cabinet secretaries. They're pretty well marginalized and irrelevent. The movers and shakers in this regime are the czars.
And the idiotic crap that they spew out! Unbelieveable! Paint your roof white, eat your dog, abolish marriage. WTF!
Posted by: Jim at October 27, 2009 04:28 PM
Tom, that is very interesting..... I bet
that is exactly what he did and how he
looks at the Constitution like you said.
"I think he studied it the way a good soldier studies his enemy."
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 27, 2009 06:31 PM
Jack, heh heh I hope there will be a run
in a real confrontation with a CZAR and
some in Democrat in Congress that helps destroy
what Obama is doing.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 27, 2009 06:36 PM
Jim, your so right, they are insane.
If someone had told me people like that
even existed years ago I would have
thought they were nuts.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 27, 2009 06:38 PM
