Early Returns
The 2006 elections happened just over a month ago, but the new Democratic majority is beginning to see the results of that victory even before the new Congress is sworn in. From a December 7, 2006 AP report in the Sacramento Bee:
The House probably will approve a bill Friday to keep open a special investigative office that has unearthed millions of dollars in waste and fraud in the rebuilding of Iraq.
Led by Stuart Bowen Jr., the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction tracks spending in the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq. Reconstruction has moved slowly because of corruption and wartime violence.
Late Wednesday, the Senate agreed by voice vote to an amendment that would keep the inspector's office open until the fall of 2008.
House passage of the bill would send the measure to the president to sign into law.
A defense bill enacted this year included a provision closing the office by next fall and transferring its cases to inspectors at the State and Defense departments.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, supports closing the office by the end of 2007 and shifting the work to the State and Defense departments.
Mr. Bowen had done a creditable job in trying to track the shady dealings of those contractors who had been gouging the US, such a creditable job that the contractors (all heavy hitters with extensive ties to the administration) felt compelled to push back, which was the reason behind the initial decision to close Mr. Bowen's office and transfer the duties to the less independent inspectors at the Pentagon and State.
Democrats made it clear to the current Congressional leadership that they would introduce the bill early in January anyway, so the decision to deal with the issue now is clearly intended to offset Democratic complaints that the Republicans were intentionally leaving a mess for the new Congress to clean up. While passage of the bill will hardly put a dent in the perception of the current session as the "Do-Nothing Congress," at least it's a start toward asserting some oversight. Let the Republicans have a little glory is what I say at this point.
And if the President is foolish enough to veto the bill, the Democrats can always pass it again after January, perhaps this time including it in a Defense spending bill. That ought to get it done.
The House probably will approve a bill Friday to keep open a special investigative office that has unearthed millions of dollars in waste and fraud in the rebuilding of Iraq.
Led by Stuart Bowen Jr., the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction tracks spending in the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq. Reconstruction has moved slowly because of corruption and wartime violence.
Late Wednesday, the Senate agreed by voice vote to an amendment that would keep the inspector's office open until the fall of 2008.
House passage of the bill would send the measure to the president to sign into law.
A defense bill enacted this year included a provision closing the office by next fall and transferring its cases to inspectors at the State and Defense departments.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, supports closing the office by the end of 2007 and shifting the work to the State and Defense departments.
Mr. Bowen had done a creditable job in trying to track the shady dealings of those contractors who had been gouging the US, such a creditable job that the contractors (all heavy hitters with extensive ties to the administration) felt compelled to push back, which was the reason behind the initial decision to close Mr. Bowen's office and transfer the duties to the less independent inspectors at the Pentagon and State.
Democrats made it clear to the current Congressional leadership that they would introduce the bill early in January anyway, so the decision to deal with the issue now is clearly intended to offset Democratic complaints that the Republicans were intentionally leaving a mess for the new Congress to clean up. While passage of the bill will hardly put a dent in the perception of the current session as the "Do-Nothing Congress," at least it's a start toward asserting some oversight. Let the Republicans have a little glory is what I say at this point.
And if the President is foolish enough to veto the bill, the Democrats can always pass it again after January, perhaps this time including it in a Defense spending bill. That ought to get it done.
posted by Diane at 3:34 AM
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