Today in Washington D. C. - March 17, 2008

On The Floor: Congress's two-week Easter break began today. The only actions will be pro forma sessions by the Senate to keep President Bush from calling them back into session or appointing any recess appointments. The Senate will hold pro forma sessions on March 21, March 24 and March 27. The Senate and House will be back in session at 2 PM on March 31. For the second time in a month, the House of Representatives has left town without passing the Senate’s bipartisan FISA reform bill to address critical issues with our intelligence gathering capability. Instead the House passed a new bill, which is clearly unacceptable to the Senate, the White House, and the intelligence community. House Democrats even admitted that the bill has no chance of passing the Senate. ARRA News Service reported that the House Passes Unsuitable FISA Bill.

From Senate & News Sources: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “This House vote represents a ‘cover vote’ which the Democratic leadership believes will allow them to go on their Easter recess claiming to have passed a bill that protects America. But instead, they’ve done great harm to the effort to enact a responsible strengthening of our anti-terror laws during this session of the Congress.” Sen. McConnell emphasized, “This latest House Democrats’ bill will not be signed into law. It’s irresponsible, and has set back every effort the Senate made on a bipartisan basis to enact responsible national security legislation this year.”

Editors at National Review Online had harsh words for House Democrats, writing, “Obviously embarrassed by the bad publicity they generated last time around, they’ve attempted to camouflage dereliction with chicanery, offering an alternative [FISA] proposal Democrats know to be so deeply flawed that it would be dead on arrival in the Senate — let alone at the White House, where it would be vetoed instantly. . . . “their [House Democrats]maneuver was opposed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell, respected non-partisan professionals, who’ve reported that we are already losing intelligence due to the House’s partisan intransigence.” On the Senate side, Roll Call reports today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid essentially wants to have a replay of February when the chamber returns in two weeks by returning to a housing bill and having still more Iraq votes.

Vice President Cheney is in Iraq today, offering a more realistic view of events there, observing “dramatic” security gains (Reuters). The BBC reports a new poll suggesting more optimism among Iraqis, and the AP noted the sharp decline in TV coverage of Iraq. Amazingly, though, the decline is blamed on fatigue with the story, as opposed to the clear-cut drop in violence. The AP writes, “It’s possible to pinpoint the exact week that the switch turned off. The war averaged 30 minutes per week of coverage last year on the three network evening newscasts up until Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. forces, testified in September about the surge’s progress . . .”

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