|
White House spokesman Tony Snow strongly criticized congressional Democrats Wednesday, calling the House Judiciary Committee’s move to advance a contempt of Congress citation against two White House staffers “pathetic.” The panel voted along party lines to bring the citation against former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and President Bush’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, to the full House. Democrats say the move is warranted because Bolten and Miers ignored congressional subpoenas. The vote drew a harsh rebuke from Snow, who told reporters that the partisanship in Congress “quite often boils down to insults, insinuations, inquisitions and investigations.” The White House maintains that the Bush administration has bent over backwards to satisfy the demands of Democratic investigators. “This White House remains committed to the principle that we are willing to accommodate members of Congress,” Snow said. “They have legitimate oversight interests, and we have made available any individuals and any facts that would be necessary for them to conduct their deliberations.” But the White House lamented the extent of the Democratic oversight, saying it is not in proportion with the legislative business that has been conducted. “We’ve had more than 600 oversight hearings, 87,000-plus hours spent responding to oversight requests and 430,000 pages made available to Congress for oversight,” Snow said, adding that the investigations have yet to reveal any wrongdoing. “Look at all the pages here. Look at all the hearings. This is — it is as if they keep throwing mud against the wall, hoping something’s going to stick,” the spokesman said. “At this point, we have hundreds of hearings that have produced bubkes,” Snow stated. “And what has happened is, that there has generated this idea, ‘Let’s go on a fishing expedition and let’s haul somebody up, and let’s make insinuations without having firm proof.’ And what that does is it creates a toxic atmosphere.” But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) vehemently backed the panel’s decision. “The contempt proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee today are part of a broader effort by House Democrats to restore our nation’s fundamental system of checks and balances,” Pelosi said. “The Constitution gives the Congress a crucial role in overseeing the Executive Branch in order to protect the American people against overreaching, incompetence, and corruption,” Pelsosi added. “I am hopeful that today’s vote will help the Administration see the light and release the information to which the Judiciary Committee is entitled.” |
