Today in Washington D. C. - Feb 14, 2008

This Democrat Congress’ continued mismanage of critical national security questions is beyond belief and reason. Reid & Pelosi have continued to be absolute failures as leaders. They speak with deceit and malice and are totally inept! Is this the new voice of the Democrat Party! We hope that conservative "blue dog" democrats will take action to return sanity their Party's leadership in the Congress. Or is it too late?
On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200). Votes on amendments to the bill are expected throughout the day. According to CQ’s SenateWatch (subscription link) “The measure would authorize spending for the Indian Health Service through 2017. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, it would authorize discretionary spending of $16 billion over five years and $35 billion over 10 years.”

Yesterday, the Senate passed the conference report for the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill (H.R. 2082). The 51-45 vote was largely along party lines. The New York Times reports, “. . . Bush intended to veto the bill, on the ground that it would interfere with successful intelligence gathering. . . . Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that Democrats were irresponsibly accusing the C.I.A. of torture and that limiting the interrogators to techniques in the Army Field Manual would seriously undermine American intelligence-gathering efforts.”

In the House: All eyes are on the House of Representatives today to see what the chamber will do on the FISA law. The latest extension of critical FISA revisions expires tomorrow at midnight. The House Democrat Leadership is expected to take up the Senate-passed FISA bill today, but only under suspension of the rules, which would mean the bill would need a 2/3rds vote to pass, instead of a simple majority. Since so many Democrats remain opposed to the new FISA law, this maneuver could result in the current surveillance authority expiring. House Republican Leader John Boehner is pushing Democrats to drop the games and pass the bill, while warning of the consequences of allowing the FISA revisions to expire.

The Politico reports today that the House is actually poised to vote on contempt citations for White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. It would be the height of irresponsibility for the House to choose to pursue partisan investigations while allowing our intelligence services’ authority to listen to the conversations of terrorists lapse.

From Senate & News Sources: The best thing for the House to do would be to simply pass the Senate FISA bill. As Sen. Mitch McConnell said yesterday, “There is a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives to take up and pass the Senate-passed bill in the House of Representatives now. That’s what we know. That’s what I hope will be done” Roll Call reported, “The intraparty squabbling among Democrats over whether and how to expand the government’s foreign wiretapping powers devolved into chaos Wednesday, when liberal and conservative factions joined with Republicans to defeat a 21-day extension backed by House Democratic leaders.”

As all this plays out in Washington, progress continues to be made in Baghdad on reconciliation. Astonishingly, even The New York Times editorial page recognizes the progress today. Less so has been the reaction of Democrats who continue to declare the troop surge “a failure.” This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put on the Senate calendar yet another bill which would require troop withdrawals from Iraq.

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