Senate hearing set on move to censure Bush
By Reuters
03/24/06 "Reuters" -- -- The Republican-led U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee announced on Friday it would hold a hearing
next week on a call by a Democratic lawmaker to censure
President George W. Bush for his domestic spy program.
In a one-sentence notice, the panel said the hearing would be
held next Friday by the order of its chairman, Republican Sen.
Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania, who
has opposed censure.
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record) of
Wisconsin introduced a resolution last week calling for a Senate
censure of the president, charging that Bush's warrantless
domestic surveillance program was illegal. Revelation of the
once-secret program has triggered a political uproar.
Feingold, who has attracted little support from fellow Democrats
for censure, said unless a hearing was held he would push for a
vote by the full Senate on his resolution.
The White House and many Republicans in Congress have denounced
Feingold's censure resolution as a political stunt.
"Some Democrats in Congress have decided the president is the
enemy and the terrorist surveillance program is grounds for
censuring the president," Vice President Dick Cheney told a
Republican fund-raiser in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, adding,
"The American people have already made their decision. They
agree with the president."
The Senate has censured a president, which amounts to a formal
rebuke, only once before and that was Andrew Jackson in 1834 in
a banking dispute.
Bush secretly authorized warrantless electronic eavesdropping on
Americans while in pursuit of suspected enemies of the United
States shortly after the September 11 attacks.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist sought to dismiss the censure
resolution against Bush with an immediate vote last week but was
blocked by some Democrats who said the resolution needed to be
at least debated.
Specter has questioned the legality of Bush's surveillance
program but has argued that censure is not justified.
In Senate comments last week, Specter noted that experts had
disagreed about whether the president has the constitutional
power to conduct the program without court warrants.
"When he (Feingold) comes to the resolve clause and speaks about
censure and condemnation of President Bush, I think he is vastly
excessive," Specter said.
As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Feingold will have an
opportunity at next week's hearing to debate Specter.
The Wisconsin Democrat, traveling overseas, could not be reached
for an immediate comment on Specter's decision to hold a
hearing, his office said.
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited.
