If Senators fail to defend the rights of their Chamber of Congress vis-a-vis the White House this evening, then they will have spotty luck in getting other “evidence requests” filled by the administration.
This story by Lolita C. Baldor on AP just broke reporting that a group of Senators now want the administration to provide ALL information related to base closing (BRAC) decisions.
From the AP report:
Senators scrambling to head off proposed military base closings in their states are pressing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to release all the data used to decide which facilities to shut down.
Nearly two dozen senators from Maine to Nevada signed a letter to Rumsfeld, saying they need to know how the Pentagon ranked the bases and determined their military value.
Governors from 14 states, meanwhile, sent a similar letter to President Bush Thursday asking him to direct Rumsfeld to release all the information and request a delay in the base closing process until the data is made available and there has been time for review.
Federal statute, said the governors, requires that the information be delivered no more than seven days after the list of proposed closings is released. The list was made public May 13.
Some of these same Senators think it’s just fine that the administration not comply with the constitutional requirement that it provide the Senate-requested evidence and information on John Bolton, but not when it comes to base closures.
If the Senate starts yielding on principle, on the integrity of the institution, then there’s a “slippery slope” towards a pathetic and impotent reality. And this is what the Cheney-Bolton White House crowd wants.
— Steve Clemons
