corrente

Unbelievable? All too believable!

Congress debated legislation Saturday giving two committee chairman and their assistants [Why, that would be Tom "Don't call me French!" DéLay, right?] access to income tax returns [Whose returns? Democrats? Perhaps Ronnie Earle's?] without regard to privacy protections, but not before red-faced Republicans said it was all a mistake and would be swiftly repealed.

Right. "Swiftly repealed." Feel free to hold your breath, people...

"This is a serious situation," said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. He said he was unaware of the provision, inserted into a 3,300-page spending bill covering most federal agencies and programs.

Questioned sharply by fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, Stevens pleaded with the Senate to approve the overall spending bill.

So we're going to pass the bill, and then undo the bad parts later? Nice! God knows what else is in there.

Stevens promised a resolution repealing that provision relating to tax returns. He said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had agreed to have the resolution passed when the House returns Dec. 6.

In the meantime, he said, President Bush intends to issue a statement declaring that the section of law will be disregarded.

Right. Smooth move. So now it's up to Bush's whim whether the law is regarded or disregarded? That's a great precedent. Remember all that "rule of law" bloviation during the coup against Clinton? WPS, pure and simple. The Democrats nail this one.

But Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said that wasn't good enough. "It becomes the law of the land on the signature of the president of the United States. That's wrong."

Stevens, who repeatedly apologized for the error, took offense at Conrad's statement. In a reference to House Republican leaders, he said it was included in the bill after "a representation was made by one staffer [Um, which staffer, I wonder?] that the front office [that is DéLay] in the other body [that is, the House] wanted it."

Pounding on his desk, Stevens said he had given his word and so had Young that neither would use the authority. "I would hope that the Senate would take my word. I don't think I have ever broken my word to any member of the Senate."

"... Do I have to get down on my knees and beg," he said.

Yep. And do worse than beg, eh? It's DéLay we're talking about, and these people will do anything to hold onto power.

"We weren't born yesterday, we didn't come down with the first snow," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "This isn't poorly thought out, this was very deliberately thought out and it was done in the dead of night."
(via AP)

It's good to see that some Senate Republicans don't have the stomach for Bush's tactics, but at the end of the day, what will they do for us? Nothing.

Meanwhile, the Dems have to do this every day, every bill, all the time. The Republicans don't rest, and neither can the Democrats.