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Anticipating House victory, Democrats draft subpoenas


by Bill Myers
Washington Examiner
Monday, August 28, 2006

WASHINGTON - Democrats are sharpening their investigative knives in anticipation of taking the House of Representatives back in the fall election.

“The president has had no oversight, no checks and balances, no questions asked,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who some say is likely to become majority leader if his party can retake the House. “We’ve got $9 billion we can’t find in Iraq, billions wasted in Katrina, intercepted phone calls of our citizens ... and Congress has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.”

Jim Moran, D-Va., said that he doesn’t expect the Democrats to win enough of a majority in the House so that it can dictate policy, but he does expect investigations to become a big part of House business.

“I don’t expect a dramatic legislative agenda, but a dramatic change in direction,” Moran said.

He himself is looking forward to questioning the Federal Emergency Management Agency about its response not only to Hurricane Katrina, but also to lower-scale disasters like the capital region’s flooding this summer. “I was disappointed that they couldn’t be more helpful to individual families in the Huntington area. It’s obvious that they failed New Orleans specifically and the country in general. I think we need to hold their feet to the fire,” Moran said.

Moran also said he wants to look into the Bush administration’s prescription drug plan.

Republicans have seized on remarks like that to warn voters that the Democrats will throttle the government.

“A Democrat-majority Congress would essentially turn the House into government by subpoena,” said Kevin Madden, spokesman for current House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “They have not even attempted to hide the fact that they want to turn the House into a carnival of investigations.”

A Democratic takeover would also change funding priorities. Moran was quoted earlier this year as saying that he “would earmark the [expletive] out of bills” if his party re-acquired House leadership.

Speaking to The Examiner last week, Moran refused to back away from the statement.

“Every dollar gets earmarked; it’s a question of who does the earmarking,” Moran said. “If we don’t trust the executive to do it in an objective, prioritized way, we’ve got to do it ourselves.”

But Moran — and Hoyer — also promised that the House would halt future tax cuts, promising a “pay-go” model of governance.

How likely is that the Democrats can take the House? Republican incumbents are facing tough races in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Connecticut and Ohio.

Additionally, Democratic-leaning Internet groups are pouring money into “second-tier” races against incumbents such as Virginian Republican Thelma Drake. These “Netroots” groups are already taking credit for toppling longtime Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war.

“After McCain-Feingold [campaign finance reform act], people realized that small donors are an extremely important source of fundraising,” said Benjamin Rahn, president of ActBlue.com, a Web site that has raised nearly $7.8 million for local Democrats since 2004.

Privately, even Republicans acknowledge that they may face a Democratic majority in the House and a thinner Republican majority in the Senate after the elections.

Republicans are desperate enough about the elections that last week President Bush took the rare step of referring to the Democratic Party by name and telling a news conference that the party would raise taxes if they won back the Congress.




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