[IP] Outrageous!
Begin forwarded message:
From: EEkid@xxxxxxx
Date: November 21, 2004 10:27:09 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Outrageous!
Frist: Tax-returns measure indefensible
Senate leaders vow author will be held accountable
Sunday, November 21, 2004 Posted: 10:17 PM EST (0317 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday that
"accountability will be carried out" against whoever slipped a
provision into an omnibus spending bill that would have allowed two
committee chairmen to view the tax returns of any American.
"I have no earthly idea how it got in there," Frist said on CBS's "Face
The Nation." "Nobody is going to defend this."
The language was caught and removed in the Senate on Saturday, but the
House will have to approve the fix before the spending bill can be sent
to the White House for President Bush's signature.
However, the delay will not cause a government shutdown. Congress
already had passed a stopgap resolution to fund government agencies
through December 3 in order to give the White House time to consider
the omnibus bill.
A military plane flew that resolution to Chile, where Bush was
attending the APEC summit, so the president could sign it to avoid any
disruption of government.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a
written statement that "The Republicans' lack of transparency and
willingness to abuse their power is undermining democracy. It should be
of grave concern to all Americans that their privacy could be invaded
by such an outrageous provision."
Sen. John McCain said Sunday that the episode points up the problems
created when Congress passes gigantic spending bills at the end of a
session, before anyone has time to read them.
"If there is ever a graphic example of the broken system that we now
have, that certainly has to be it," the Arizona Republican said on
NBC's "Meet The Press." "How many other provisions didn't we find in
that 1,000-page bill?"
Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York called Sunday for a "full
and complete" investigation into how the language got into the bill,
followed by "appropriate punishment" for those responsible.
"This harkens back to the days of [FBI Director] J. Edgar Hoover, when
some unknown person could go and snoop on you," he said on CNN's "Late
Edition With Wolf Blitzer."
Saturday, rushing to adjourn for the year, the House passed the $338
billion omnibus spending bill, which was necessary to keep government
operations funded after Congress ran out of time to pass nine regular
appropriations bills. The bill ran to more than 1,000 pages. (Full
story)
Saturday had been scheduled as the final day of a lame-duck session for
the 108th Congress. On Sunday, top Democrats and Republicans expressed
frustration over the House's failure to pass a broad intelligence
reorganization bill. A vote in December is still possible, as Congress
has not gone into recess. (Full story)
After the House passed the spending bill, Democratic Senate staffers
discovered that it contained a provision allowing the chairmen of the
House and Senate appropriations committees, or their agents, to examine
the tax returns of any American.
The two lawmakers who would have gained that power -- Sen. Ted Stevens,
an Alaska Republican, and Rep. Bill Young, a Florida Republican -- both
said they wouldn't use it, and the Senate approved a resolution
deleting the language.
Frist and outgoing Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat from
South Dakota, agreed to hold the bill until the House could pass a
similar fix, which could not happen before Wednesday.
Schumer said Pelosi told him she planned to hold up consideration of
the bill in the House "until we find out who put this provision in."
Some Democrats implied that the measure was inserted for political gain.
"Does anyone believe that some staffer without permission thought up a
scheme by which a chairman's 'agent' could have access to every IRS
facility everywhere in this nation and every single IRS filing of every
citizen of this nation?" said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California
Democrat.
"I mean, you know, we weren't born yesterday."
Frist said he did not know who was responsible for inserting the
language, "but, obviously, somebody is going to know, and
accountability will be carried out."
The Senate leader also noted that passing appropriations together into
one omnibus bill was "not unusual," and that the appropriations
subcommittees have been working on it for nine months.
"This thing wasn't written over the last three or four days," he told
CBS, though he conceded that the budget process needed to be changed.
"We're going to work on that in the next Congress," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/21/tax.provision/index.html
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/