<font size="5"><center>Senator calls for censure of Bush
on Domestic eavesdropping program</font size></center>
By Douglass K. Daniel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/13/2006
WASHINGTON
A liberal Democrat is proposing that Congress censure President George W. Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping.
"The president has broken the law and, in some way, he must be held accountable," said the Democrat, Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. He spoke in an interview Sunday.
A censure resolution would, in effect, simply scold the president. Such a resolution has been used just once in U.S. history - against Andrew Jackson in 1834.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., called the proposal "a crazy political move" that would weaken the United States in time of war.
Feingold's five-page resolution will be introduced today. It contends that Bush violated the law when, on his own, he set up the eavesdropping program within the National Security Agency following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush claims that his authority as commander in chief as well as a congressional authorization in September 2001 to use force in the fight against terrorism gave him the power to authorize the surveillance.
The White House had no immediate response on Sunday.
The resolution says the president "repeatedly misled the public" before the disclosure of the NSA program in December by suggesting that the administration was relying on court orders to wiretap terror suspects inside the U.S.
"Congress has to reassert our system of government, and the cleanest and the most efficient way to do that is to censure the president," Feingold said. "And, hopefully, he will acknowledge that he did something wrong."
Feingold said he had not discussed censure with other senators. But he said that based on criticism leveled at Bush by both Democrats and Republicans, the resolution made sense.
The president's actions were "in the strike zone" in terms of being an impeachable offense, Feingold said. But he questioned whether impeaching Bush would be good for the country.
In the House, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is pushing legislation that would call on the Republican-controlled Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeachment.
The surveillance program gave intelligence officers the power to monitor - without court approval - the international calls and e-mails of U.S. residents when those officers suspected terrorism may be involved.
Frist said on ABC's "This Week" that he hoped al-Qaida and other enemies of the U.S. were not listening to the infighting.
"The signal that it sends - that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander in chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that is making our homeland safer - is wrong," Frist said.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said on CNN's "Late Edition" that Feingold's announcement on a Sunday talk show was "political grandstanding. And it tends to weaken our president."
Feingold was the first senator to urge a withdrawal timetable for U.S. military personnel in Iraq and was the only senator to vote in 2001 against the USA Patriot Act, the post-Sept. 11 law that expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers. In 2002, he also voted against a resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq.
Jackson was censured by the Senate in 1834 after he removed the nation's money from a private bank in defiance of the Whig Party, which controlled the Senate.
Impeachment is the only punishment outlined in the Constitution for a president. But the Constitution says the House and Senate can punish their own members through censure.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...7DBF0452FF2B76E4862571300019B319?OpenDocument
on Domestic eavesdropping program</font size></center>
By Douglass K. Daniel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/13/2006
WASHINGTON
A liberal Democrat is proposing that Congress censure President George W. Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping.
"The president has broken the law and, in some way, he must be held accountable," said the Democrat, Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. He spoke in an interview Sunday.
A censure resolution would, in effect, simply scold the president. Such a resolution has been used just once in U.S. history - against Andrew Jackson in 1834.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., called the proposal "a crazy political move" that would weaken the United States in time of war.
Feingold's five-page resolution will be introduced today. It contends that Bush violated the law when, on his own, he set up the eavesdropping program within the National Security Agency following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush claims that his authority as commander in chief as well as a congressional authorization in September 2001 to use force in the fight against terrorism gave him the power to authorize the surveillance.
The White House had no immediate response on Sunday.
The resolution says the president "repeatedly misled the public" before the disclosure of the NSA program in December by suggesting that the administration was relying on court orders to wiretap terror suspects inside the U.S.
"Congress has to reassert our system of government, and the cleanest and the most efficient way to do that is to censure the president," Feingold said. "And, hopefully, he will acknowledge that he did something wrong."
Feingold said he had not discussed censure with other senators. But he said that based on criticism leveled at Bush by both Democrats and Republicans, the resolution made sense.
The president's actions were "in the strike zone" in terms of being an impeachable offense, Feingold said. But he questioned whether impeaching Bush would be good for the country.
In the House, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is pushing legislation that would call on the Republican-controlled Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeachment.
The surveillance program gave intelligence officers the power to monitor - without court approval - the international calls and e-mails of U.S. residents when those officers suspected terrorism may be involved.
Frist said on ABC's "This Week" that he hoped al-Qaida and other enemies of the U.S. were not listening to the infighting.
"The signal that it sends - that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander in chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that is making our homeland safer - is wrong," Frist said.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said on CNN's "Late Edition" that Feingold's announcement on a Sunday talk show was "political grandstanding. And it tends to weaken our president."
Feingold was the first senator to urge a withdrawal timetable for U.S. military personnel in Iraq and was the only senator to vote in 2001 against the USA Patriot Act, the post-Sept. 11 law that expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers. In 2002, he also voted against a resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq.
Jackson was censured by the Senate in 1834 after he removed the nation's money from a private bank in defiance of the Whig Party, which controlled the Senate.
Impeachment is the only punishment outlined in the Constitution for a president. But the Constitution says the House and Senate can punish their own members through censure.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...7DBF0452FF2B76E4862571300019B319?OpenDocument