“If the GAO is only
going to get information if the administration is willing to
give it, then there’s no reason why [the administration] is
going to be cooperative,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.),
ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee.
Waxman, a proponent
of aggressive congressional oversight, and Energy and Commerce
Committee ranking Democrat John Dingell (Mich.)
originally asked Walker to probe Cheney’s task force. They and
other Democrats assert that with one party controlling both the
legislative and executive branches, aggressive congressional
oversight is almost impossible.
Since December, the
GAO general counsel’s office has been “trying to chart where the
biggest problems are, or are likely to be in terms of agencies’
refusals to provide information sought by GAO,” according to a
source familiar with senior GAO operations. In addition, the
general counsel’s office is reporting any findings directly to
Walker, the source said.
But Rep. Chris
Shays (R-Conn.), who chairs the Government Reform Subcommittee
on National Security, called their charge “crazy,” and said he
continues to have confidence in the GAO. “I depend on it for a
tremendous amount [of information],” he said.
Nevertheless, some
House Democrats maintain that the end of the Cheney lawsuit will
embolden the White House to resist congressional oversight.
“This is already
the most secretive administration in recent history,” said Rep.
Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a former member of the Government
Reform Committee who now sits on Energy and Commerce. She added
that the future viability of the GAO “remains to be seen.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren
(D-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said she is
skeptical about the GAO’s future effectiveness: “It certainly
raises questions in my mind. We count on certain agencies to
provide just the facts.”
Other House
members, however, believe that these concerns are premature, and
that by continually tasking the GAO, the legislative branch can
monitor and maintain its effectiveness.
“My instinct would
be to keep testing them and make sure they’re manning the
ramparts over there,” a GOP aide on the Government Reform
Committee said.
Waxman and Lofgren expressed particular concern about
congressional oversight of the Justice Department’s
anti-terrorism activities.
“It is impossible
to oversee the Justice Department,” Lofgren said, referring to
draft legislation the department is considering that would
increase its ability to operate covert surveillance and searches
of any suspected terrorist in the United States.
The GAO is
completing a study of the Justice Department actions involving
the long-term detention of foreigners in the wake of the
Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, and the use of military tribunals
to prosecute suspected terrorists.
Rep. John Conyers
(D-Mich.), ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and Sen.
Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) requested the study in January 2002.
“A core function of
the GAO is to review executive agency activities to assure
Congress…that government authority is exercised within the
limits of statutory and constitutional authority,” Feingold and
Conyers wrote to the GAO’s Walker.
The report should
be completed by the end of this month, according to a Feingold
aide. |