SEN DEMS THINK BIG-Plan To Go Well Beyond Intell Gathering & War Investigations

[kpete]

Report: Democrats 'think big' on Bush oversight

RAW STORY
Published: Monday November 20, 2006



Democrats are "thinking big" on Bush oversight, according to a Capitol Hill newspaper.

"Senate Democrats’ plans to significantly beef up the chamber’s oversight of the Bush administration will go well beyond intelligence-gathering activities and President Bush’s prosecution of the Iraq War to include investigations into the Medicare program, alleged censorship of scientists, climate change and potential manipulation of energy markets, according to aides and lobbyists," John Stanton reports for Roll Call.

Both the Environment and Public Works and Energy and Natural Resources committees are "expected to be aggressive in their investigative activities."

Excerpts from Roll Call article:

#
Incoming Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) already has said she will address the issue of climate change in the 110th Congress, and oversight hearings of the Bush administration’s policies will be a central aspect of that work. Since Bush took office in 2000, environmentalists’ complaints about lax enforcement by the EPA and allegations that the administration was undermining the nation’s environmental laws largely have fallen on deaf ears in Congress.

But with Boxer in charge, the committee is expected to take up a number of other environment issues, including the EPA’s toxics and pesticide testing rules, the Superfund program, Clean Air Act rules covering emissions from coal-fired power plants, wetlands and Clean Water Act regulatory development. The committee also will likely launch inquires into allegations by environmentalists and EPA whistle-blowers that the agency has been censoring scientists working in a number of areas that could harm the industries the agency regulates.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Report_Democrats_think_big_on_Bush_1120.html

[AndyA]

1. Glad to hear it! Let's get the show on the road and get those

bums who are stealing from us OUT OF OFFICE!! :thumbsup:

[SutaUvaca]

2. Damnation! I'm lovin' it!! n/t

[madokie]

7. sometimes you have to lose something to know you had it

and I think a lot of this 'oversight', or lack thereof fits under that umbrella
to DU

spell check

[Jcrowley]

3. Let's get to the minutes

of the Cheney Energy Task Force meeting.

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. They should look at the FCC, too! ASAP

The means to push propaganda is possibly one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal.

[annabanana]

20. It should be near the top of the list!

We will not be able to put this country on a safe track again until we break up the media monopolies. Many many voices have to get out to the American people. It is the only way the country can belong to the people again.!!!

[Old and In the Way]

5. Fight 'em on many fronts.

Stretch their ability to react to all of the investigations. Make 'em pay for the crimes they've been getting away with for the past 5 years.

[nebenaube]

12. I told Dean that several years ago.

Resources are finite.

[bobbolink]

15. Yup, that's what committees are about!

Keeping the opposition bizzzy! :evilgrin:

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. I hope Boxer also exposes the 911 toxic fumes cover up by this administration.

The EPA KNEW the fumes at ground zero were/are TOXIC and covered it up so the area could be cleared out ASAP. They let all those people go down there to work knowing full well they were in danger of being exposed to toxic fumes. I hope she exposes them!

Series of Charges
Among the charges made in the report:

* the Bush administration failed to warn the public immediately of long-standing evidence that such a collapse would release toxins and make the air unsafe to breathe.
* the EPA failed on at least a dozen occasions to change its safety assurances even after it became clear people were getting sick.
* the Bush administration failed to enforce safety requirements among workers on the Ground Zero clean-up effort.

Last year the EPA, in an internal report by its Inspector General Nikki Tinsley, said the White House pressured the agency to make premature statements that the air was safe to breathe.

The EPA issued an air quality statement Sept. 18, 2001, even though it "did not have sufficient data and analyses to make the statement," the EPA report said, adding that the White House "convinced the EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones." Among the information withheld was the potential health hazards of breathing asbestos, lead, concrete, and pulverized glass.

The Sierra Club report said hundreds of people were seriously ill as a result of breathing contaminated air after the buildings fell. It said much of the dust was as caustic as ammonia and had an effect akin to drinking drain cleaner.

Noting President Bush will accept his party's nomination for re-election in New York, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope urged him to take steps to properly clean the remaining dust in lower Manhattan, fund long-term medical monitoring and treatment, and retract false safety assurances.<snip>


Source: Reuters

http://healthandenergy.com/ground_zero_air_pollution.htm

[helderheid]

8. recommended recommended recommended and investigate 9/11!

[AndyTiedye]

9. INVESTIGATE AND THEN IMPEACH!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. The Homely Scrutiny Assholes need some major supervision and babysitting

when they start controlling foreign travel of US citizens, they have gone way too far.

Warrantless wiretapping, and who knows how much more?

[Fridays Child]

11. k/r

:kick:

[Seabiscuit]

13. Flood the WH with subpoenas and grind their malfeasance to a halt. n/t

[speedoo]

14. End signing statements. At least while * is in office.

Not sure how to do it, but it needs to be done.

[bobbolink]

16. But..buu....BUT... We can't do all that and go for impeachment, too!!!

Right there it is... the structure of Congress that so many don't seem to understand.

There are things called COMMITTEES.

Each committee is responsible for different aspects of governing.

So, if the house equivalent of Barbara Boxer is concentrating on environmental issues, it doesn't impede Conyers from going for impeachment.

See how that works?

Wadda concept...

Keep 'em hoppin'!! :evilgrin:

[Cameron27]

17. This is what we've been waiting for!

I hopee there's full television coverage for all the hearings. This is gonna be great.

[Blackhatjack]

18. Krytonite for Republicans Will Be An Outraged Public When This is Exposed

If there is one thing career politicians understand, it is that the American public once outraged with the corruption of a political party in power will vote them out.

Once the blatant corruption of the Repubs in power is publicly revealed the level of outrage will be so high that it will be a while before Repubs get the public trust again.

And remember, it is not only the corruption that will get the Repubs, it will be the arrogance and the total disregard for the interests of the public that will highlight each revelation.

[williesgirl]

19. Love them Dems! Go get the criminals.

[Phrogman]

21. I'll believe it when I see it.

Talk is cheap.