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This week in Congress - July 14
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Capitol News Connection on 18 July, 2008 12:31:00
 
Early in the week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gathered fellow Democrats for some
extra face time in front of the cameras. See if you can spot the cleverly hidden
election subtext here:
SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): "Our message back to the President is, Its the
economy, [pause] Mr. President."
That was before she went on CNN and called President Bush a total failure. At
times this week, the august body that is the United States Congress just
flat-out dropped any pretense of playing nice and being civil.
REP. CHARLIE GONZALEZ (D-TX): "Its actually very entertaining if it wasnt so
disheartening."
Thats Texas Democrat Charlie Gonzales. He was on the floor Wednesday afternoon
when the House was nearing the end of debate on an intelligence bill and a
procedural scuffle turned oddly ugly. Suddenly a different Texas Democrat,
Silvestre Reyes, is accusing Republicans of betraying the trust of Americans.
GOP members get very angry and demand the words be stricken from the record.
CHAIR: "In the opinion of the chair. The words complained of were not directed
in such a way as to constitute a personality or otherwise transgress&"
Everyones hackles are up and now its Majority Leader Steny Hoyers turn to
speak.
STENY HOYER: "But the fact of the matter is we could accomplish it right now if
you didnt want to try to make some political point out of it on this
intelligence bill. And you can say Oh all you want. You can say Oh all you
want."
REP. CHARLIE GONZALEZ (D-TX): "Its one of those things where you know youve
got the football and youre saying, but youre not letting me play. And youre
going, well you have the football so lets all play. And you go, Im not going
to let you have the football! Its all silliness, it really is."
In the end, the most notable thing here may be how it all turned out. This is
the intelligence authorization bill that last year got vetoed because of highly
controversial torture language. This year, any language attempting to define
what is or isnt torture was stripped out of the bill. It passed& by a voice
vote - which is a remarkably casual way to vote up or down a major piece of
intelligence legislation. The thing is - with a voice vote, theres no record
of who voted how. Stealthy.
V-P watch enthusiasts and odds-makers take note: this concerns a certain
erstwhile candidate and oft-repeated name for the number-two slot on the GOP
ticket. Mitt Romney made an unexpected visit to the office of House Minority
Leader John Boehner. What might bring Romney to the Hill after-hours on a
Thursday? CNCs Todd Zwillich did what any reporter would do: he asked.
Reporter: You dont have just a second do you?
MITT ROMNEY: "Naw, Im not doing any interviews today, thank you."
Today Romney made a point of pronouncing Democratic candidate Barack Obama
extraordinarily naïve on matters of foreign policy. Now that sounds an awful
lot like someone who just might be getting prepped to take the stage in the key
supporting role to the Republican lead in this seasons top-rated political
drama.
CNC's Todd Zwillich has this look at whats coming up in the week ahead:
It is indeed the economy that will be at the heart of what Congress does next
week.
First energy, the Senate is scheduled to start debate Tuesday on a Democratic
bill reining in oil speculators. Its unclear now how far theyll get.
Republicans want to talk and hopefully vote on expanded drilling.
Likewise House Democrats plan to bring up at least one more energy bill next
week. Speculation is in play and so is a bill ordering the president to release
oil from the strategic petroleum reserve.
And in the middle of the week its housing. The Bush Administration wants to
extend a big credit line as a lifeline to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both the
House and Senate want to tack it on to housing legislation theyre about to
send to the White House.
This Week in Congress reported by Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News
Connection.
Created by Bureau Chief and Executive Producer Melinda Wittstock, Capitol News
Connection provides insightful, localized coverage of participating stations'
congressional delegations.More "Capitol News Connection"