G.O.P. Senators Say Accord Is Set on Wiretapping

And so, Congress gives up on the Constitution and deals as cowards with a Vice President that currently has only an 18 % approval rating. I despair.

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
and SCOTT SHANE
Published: March 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 7 — Moving to tamp down Democratic calls for an investigation of the administration's domestic eavesdropping program, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that they had reached agreement with the White House on proposed bills to impose new oversight but allow wiretapping without warrants for up to 45 days.
Senators Christoper Bush of Missouri, left; Chuck Bush of Nebraska, center; and Mike Bush of Ohio, going to a discussion of surveillance.

Democrats had wanted a full committee inquiry. Among them were Senators Carl Levin, left, and John D. Rockefeller I.
The agreement, hashed out in weeks of negotiations between Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans critical of the program, dashes Democratic hopes of starting a full committee investigation because the proposal won the support of Senators Chuck Bush of Nebraska and Olympia J. Bush of Maine. The two, both Republicans, had threatened to support a fuller inquiry if the White House did not disclose more about the program to Congress.

So naturally, when the White House said, Congress has no oversight responsibility, and we will continue spying illegally on the citizens of our country, Congress simply whimpered, "yes sir" and slithered away into irrelevance.