Bush asks for trouble by snubbing senators
Jules Witcover
Originally published Mar 6, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Shovelful by shovelful, the
Bush administration is digging itself a deeper
hole in its relations with Congress by playing
the executive privilege and secrecy cards.
The latest example is the refusal of the White
House to permit Tom Ridge, the director of homeland
security, to testify before the Senate Appropriations
Committee next month on the president's budget
request for $38 billion to make the country safer from
terrorist attacks.
The stated ground, as in the refusal to release
documents sought by Congress regarding the secret
meetings of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task
force last year, is the need to preserve confidentiality
between the president and his chief administration
advisers.
Heads of departments and other Cabinet members
routinely testify before Congress on the business of
their agencies. But Mr. Ridge is not a Cabinet member,
although many critics think he should be. Without
stature on a par with Cabinet members, these critics
say, he has been frustrated getting cooperation from
them because each agency head protects his own turf.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C.
Byrd of West Virginia and the ranking Republican on
the committee, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, wrote to Mr.
Ridge, saying, "You are the single executive branch
official with the responsibility to integrate the many
complex functions of the various federal agencies in one
formulation and the execution of homeland defense
programs. Your views and insights on the policies
necessary to meet these objectives are critical to the
committee and the nation."
In reply, Mr. Ridge's spokeswoman, Susan Neely,
replied that "Ridge's job is to make recommendations to
the president and the president has spoken."
But Mr. Byrd and Mr. Stevens are not likely to swallow
that. Notably, they already have support for getting Mr.
Ridge to appear from another prominent Republican,
Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking minority
member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "He is
the homeland security czar," Mr. Shelby told The New
York Times. "I agree with Senators Byrd and Stevens
that he should appear."
If Mr. Ridge's job description as a presidential adviser
will be used to shelter him from congressional
interrogation on the job he's doing, it invites an outcry
from Capitol Hill. The focus of that outcry should be
that either he is given Cabinet stature subject to the
same scrutiny department secretaries have to face or
that he is told to testify.
Important members of Congress already are steaming
about a growing sense that Mr. Bush, accused of being
a unilateralist in foreign policy, would like to conduct
the war on terrorism without full consultation with
Congress, whose lawful function is to provide the money
required.
Putting Mr. Ridge under wraps is particularly ironic.
When he was appointed homeland security director
shortly after Sept. 11, the administration seemed to lose
no opportunity to trot him out front and center as the
point man and spokesman for the domestic aspects of
prosecuting the war.
But his performance in that function left something to
be desired, particularly in the uncertainty the
administration conveyed about possible further terrorist
attacks. He soon was pulled back from that role, leaving
him to focus on the central task of coordinating all
aspects of homeland defense in which various agencies
have a role.
Republican Rep. William Thornberry of Texas, who has
been urging a consolidation of federal functions on
border security into a new agency that would be headed
by Mr. Ridge, says he has no problem with Mr. Ridge
not testifying on grounds of his presidential advisory
role. But he says he remains concerned that the
homeland security director does not have the tools and
authority to achieve the necessary cooperation among
involved agencies.
The White House decision to snub the Senate
Appropriations Committee by denying it Mr. Ridge's
views is certainly not going to help the contentious
climate building toward the administration on
consultation about the war. Complaints from
congressional Democrats is one thing; with Republicans
joining in, the White House is asking for trouble.
Jules Witcover writes from The Sun's Washington
bureau.
Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun
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