Conservative Lawmaker Debunks Administration Claim That Congress Was Briefed
Conservative Lawmaker Debunks Administration Claim That Congress Was Briefed
After the media reported last month on the financial tracking program, Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey claimed the administration had “briefed appropriate members of Congress and their staffs on this program.†Yesterday, Financial Services Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Sue Kelly (R-NY) corrected the spin.
Lawmakers “complained bitterly†that the administration had kept them “in the dark†about the program until the media broke the story. Here’s what Kelly had to say:
Many people in Congress who should have been briefed by this administration were not. And while I appreciated the visit last week from Undersecretary Levey - after the program’s existence was reported in the media - our oversight obligations are far from fulfilled. … We must insure that an environment of accountability is provided for all government.
Kelly isn’t the only conservative upset over the administration’s secrecy. She joins House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-NY), who recently told Bush the “U.S. Congress should not have to play Twenty Questions to get information that it deserves under the U.S. Constitution.”
Full transcript below:
KELLY: That said, many people in Congress who should have been briefed by this administration were not. And while I appreciated the visit last week from Undersecretary Levey - after the program’s existence was reported in the media - our oversight obligations are far from fulfilled. I believe that the skepticism the administration afforded this Congress, perhaps properly, regarding the Terror Finance Tracking Program must be reciprocated. We must insure that an environment of accountability is provided for all government, everyone in government who deals with this sensitive financial information.
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39 Responses to “Conservative Lawmaker Debunks Administration Claim That Congress Was Briefed”
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Wow, Congress is growing some Thatchers?
July 12th, 2006 at 3:28 pmyeah great, now do something about it!
July 12th, 2006 at 3:30 pmThe Bushco excuse is that they sent somone over to brief all the people that were supposed to be briefed, and, if they werent, its not his fault.
What a guy!
July 12th, 2006 at 3:33 pmCan it be that the repubs in congress are just realizing that bush has thrown them under the Iraq War bus? I guess they don’t think the supreme ruler will help them at election time!
July 12th, 2006 at 3:36 pmThis is basically GOP lawmakers covering their ass so when it’s their re-election time they can say they did their job. I wonder how critical Sue Kelly has been of the Bush administration in the past? In fact, a majority of GOP folks have been pretty mute on the Bush administration’s missteps, but now that the president is wildly unpopular they need to distance themselves from him.
July 12th, 2006 at 3:40 pmPeter Hoekstra quaintly spoke up about oversight, etc.
Only after blatantly lying about finding WMD in Iraq.
Is noone keeping track of this shit?
July 12th, 2006 at 3:41 pmJimi’s a Colbert Report watcher. That was a funny one too….
July 12th, 2006 at 3:56 pm- Destroy the DLC:
I have to concur…Hoekstra lied about WMD, then ’spoke out’ against Bush, and then suggested unauthorized leaks to the media might be deliberate attempts to aid al-Qaeda (admitting he had no evidence to back up his ridiculous nonsense when questioned). This is just the same old song and dance for the Repubs…putting on their little show for their constituents. It’s obvious that this is a year divisible by 2. If legal action against Dubya & Company does in fact result from this, I’ll eat these words, but I have a feeling I’ll be going hungry waiting for that day…
July 12th, 2006 at 3:58 pmhttp://www.cnn.com/ video/ player/ player.html?url=/ video/ education/ 2006/ 07/ 12/ wollering.wi.university.911.controversy.wmtv
July 12th, 2006 at 4:07 pmI live in Kelly’s district. At election time she will say or do anything to get re-elected. She has supported Bush (and Tom Delay) at every turn over the last 6 years and is showing how much of a hypocrit she actually is with this speech.
July 12th, 2006 at 4:17 pmbut the New York Times is the real problem…..right CONS……
Even Conservatives lawmakers werent even briefed to the full extent of this program….now THAT is what I call un-American
July 12th, 2006 at 4:25 pmpretty cool… wisc.u. students are lucky…
July 12th, 2006 at 4:30 pmi fear for the good professor though…
just imagine what will come out of that class…
#10 - Just like Hoekstra.
July 12th, 2006 at 4:33 pmnow do something and quite pukin
July 12th, 2006 at 4:33 pmnow do something and quit pukin
July 12th, 2006 at 4:33 pmI say too little too late. Where were these people during the last 3 years? I’ll tell you where, up Bush’s butt. Remember, illegal NSA domestic wiretapping was going on PRIOR to 911.
July 12th, 2006 at 5:04 pmDear Leader Kim Jong Bush doesn’t have to brief anyone
His infinite wisdom, and decisive personality, makes it unnecessary to consult with others.
July 12th, 2006 at 5:15 pmThink progress – Don’t make me laugh! This site is nothing but a bitch and moan session site. Filled with comments from people who are too afraid to put down their real names. Who like to do nothing else but to call other people names. They have no real answer to what ever problem is stated and don’t have the Ball’s to even try to get it fixed.
All they like to do is to cry boo-hoo-hoo all day long about anything and everything. Even the topics following discussions that are brought up do not coincide with the site statement, all you want to do is to pick on anybody who does not think or act as you do. I thank God that there are so few of you out their.
“What we are about!â€
1. Social and Economic Justice.
2. Healthy Communities.
3. Global Leadership.
4. A Secure America.
“What We’re Fighting Againstâ€
1. Corrupt Establishment.
2. Incompetent Establishment.
3. Brain-dead Media.
4. Radical Right-Wing Agenda.
I see no solutions to any of the postings on this site. What a waste of time and cyberspace, this site and the people that stay in it are complete idiots. I bet that this posting will not be allowed to stay because you all are afraid of the truth!
July 12th, 2006 at 5:47 pmUpset enough to impeach?
I’ll believe it when I see it. Otherwise, it’s just pre-electiion grandstanding.
“People will believe anything if you catch them early enough” -Jon Stewart
July 12th, 2006 at 6:23 pm“I see no solutions to any of the postings on this site”
I see no point to your post. If you don’t like us, please, don’t let the door…
July 12th, 2006 at 6:28 pmJohn Patrick O’Shea says the site is filled with:
“Who like to do nothing else but to call other people names”
and also says that:
“people that stay in it are complete idiots”
so; I guess he proved his own point? Guess you’ll be staying
July 12th, 2006 at 6:29 pmin it, Jeh ohn.
#10 I’ll confirm that. I am also one of her constituents and I haven’t heard her criticizing the administration at all before this. I will be contacting her to remind her of what she said in the coming weeks. I believe that she also chairs a Transportation Subcommittee and was able to land a chunk of pork in our district in that huge bill, so she might be counting on that to get votes. She shouldn’t. The stuff she got money for was needed years ago.
July 12th, 2006 at 6:37 pmI’m not afraid of the truth. The truth is, you are a dick. See?
July 12th, 2006 at 6:50 pmHats off to you, IndyPendant and Wayne A. Schneider, you are absolutely right about Kelly. It is good that’s she’s standing up to Bush for once, but since she was elected she has been a reliable Republican foot soldier and a shameless collaborator with the Bush Administration.
When it comes down to it, Kelly, like the rest of the so-called moderate Republicans will never go beyond posturing and do real harm to their masters.
July 12th, 2006 at 6:53 pmI bet that this posting will not be allowed to stay because you all are afraid of the truth!
Comment by John Patrick O’Shea
Oh look, almost 2 hours later and your post hasn’t been deleted yet. Go figure…
July 12th, 2006 at 7:43 pmAs one of Sue Kelley’s constituents, I wish she was “upset” enough with the administration to actually do something. She’s been one of many enablers of the most incompetent administration in the history of the US.
July 12th, 2006 at 7:56 pmWe also live in NY-19 and have been reading stories about Kelly’s impressive theatrics all day today. Unfortunately, #10 and others have it exactly right: this is just Kelly doing what she thinks she has to do to keep her seat. The district’s demographics have changed since she was elected in 1994 and she’s worried that the kindly grandmother moderate Republican schtick she’s been plying for the past 10 years isn’t working any more. She routinely votes with the most conservative wing of the Republicans and then tries to say she’s a moderate. For more on her true record, check out ourblog.
July 12th, 2006 at 9:13 pmFor any of these Repug swine to suddenly “realize” that the administration is nothing but a gang of thieves is hilarious
July 12th, 2006 at 10:02 pmI only came to this site because some one told me that it had great insite!!! But if it did it would be a site of nothing but blank pages. No one is interested in haveing a very open and honest discussion of the tru facts. All you want to do is call anyone who does not agree or prove the you are wrong on some points you all bad mouth them.
Good by and good ridence to a site full of dummies!
July 12th, 2006 at 10:28 pm#30
July 12th, 2006 at 11:06 pmFirst take your meds, then learn how to spell.
John Patrick O’shea:
“I bet that this posting will not be allowed to stay because you all are afraid of the truth!”
So what do you consider to be “the truth” and how would you go about implementing it? I agree that we spend a lot of time complaining and not a lot of time offering solutions. But our complaining is also an attempt to get people to recognize that there are problems and who has the greatest responsibility for our current problems. Until we acknowledge the problems as a country, we can’t even begin to figure out solutions.
July 12th, 2006 at 11:30 pmGood by and good ridence to a site full of dummies!
Comment by John Patrick O’Shea
Think we could get the Norwegian Hall Monitor to do that?
July 12th, 2006 at 11:57 pmIt’s been a quiet day on TP, maybe he had a job interview…
test - Is TP hacked? (Off subject).
July 13th, 2006 at 1:34 amGuess not, why can’t I bring up the home page?
July 13th, 2006 at 1:36 amTime to reboot.
July 13th, 2006 at 1:39 amNice talk from another member of the Republican majority. But do we see any sign of a subpoena tacked to the White House door? Talk is cheap.
July 13th, 2006 at 2:25 am“I see no solutions to any of the postings on this site. What a waste of time and cyberspace, this site and the people that stay in it are complete idiots. I bet that this posting will not be allowed to stay because you all are afraid of the truth!”
thanks for your suggestions! if you’d like to see the truth removed, try visiting a right-wing site. pretty much anything anyone says here stays up, no matter how stupid it is. as proof of that, see, your post still stands. i’m betting that whoever sent you here (for the “insite”) is going to figure out soon enough that they shouldn’t waste the time of someone so serious and visionary.
i certain that if i knew you, i wouldn’t want to be wasting your time either.
July 13th, 2006 at 10:08 pm“congress was briefed”
hey, where’s exley with his “gang of eight” argument now?
rhetorical questions of the day:
July 13th, 2006 at 10:15 pmcan we surmise that the percentage of total dipshits in america is roughly equal to the percentage of georgians that will vote for ralph reed? or is the rate of total dipshittiness higher in georgia?
Comrades,
Forget about the “Claim That Congress Was Briefedâ€. We will take back The Congress in November. But, you’re loosing focus again! There is a greater, clearer and more dangerous threat too our party that will shortly perpetrate our air-waves on ABC’s “The Path to 9/11â€
These traitors at ABC are betrayers of our new mother land. Where I come from, this Robert A. Iger would be dragged through the streets in front of the tomb of our glorious leader Vladimir Lenin and shot in public. The producers, directors, writers and anyone associated with this propaganda would be picked up in the early hours of the morning by our State Security Chief Lavrenty Beria (The Black Hand) and taken to a Siberian labor camp never too be heard from again.
For many years I have been loyal to ABC and the Pravda (truth) that our Socialist Liberal ally has put forth in order to progress our ultimate goal; the decline and absolute destruction of America and the capitalist traitorous pig’s like ABC.
I ask you Mr. Robert A. Iger, “Have you no shame Sir�
Comrades, we must not give up the fight. It has taken us many years to groom you and your elected leaders.
Remember what our great leader Nikita Khrushchev said:
“ We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism ”
It’s more important now then ever before that we stand together and stay focused! We can not allow this abomination of propaganda to go forward.
We must do whatever it takes to keep this film from airing on Sunday the 10th, 2006, we only have a few hours left.
It is your duty as loyal Liberal Socialist Democrats to rise up in solidarity and put a stop to this immediately!
Senator Harry Reid, one of our courageous and distinguished Senatorial leaders from the state of Nevada, reminded the capitalist traitorous pigs at ABC of their license from the FCC. Please Senator Reid, we’re your loyal comrades in arms and begging you to use all the glorious power you possess. You must stop this film! You must push forward with an iron fist and crush this despicable display of propaganda.
If this film isn’t stopped from airing on ABC, Sunday night, I’m afraid all our efforts since the cold war and the aspirations of our great leaders from glorious years past and Nikita Khrushchev’s dreams and predictions will have been lost.
If we loose now, the great Liberal Socialist Democratic Party, we have nurtured, will decline into the ash heaps of history never too be heard from again.
Where are our great defenders the A.C.L.U.? There silence is deafening. Their founder; Roger Nash Baldwin a supporter of the Communist Party would not let this despicable propaganda go unchallenged.
Remember comrades, we destroyed Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950’s while attempting to exploit and expose us.
This should be an easy task. We already have many supporters in positions of power. If we wish to control this country, then we must be more diligent in our efforts to stop this ABC film.
You must!…. I repeat, you must contact our comrades in arms at their offices in Washington.
Now I’ve done all the work all you have to do is contact our “elected officials†below by e-mail or call:
Clinton, Hillary Rodham- (D - NY) Class I
476 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Web Form: clinton.senate.gov/contact
Reid, Harry- (D - NV) Class III
528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3542
Web Form: reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm
Kerry, John F.- (D - MA) Class II
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2742
Web Form: kerry.senate.gov/v3/contact/email.html
Landrieu, Mary L.- (D - LA) Class II
724 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5824
Web Form: landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Levin, Carl- (D - MI) Class II
269 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6221
Web Form: levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Rockefeller, John D., IV- (D - WV) Class II
531 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6472
Web Form: rockefeller.senate.gov/services/email.cfm
Schumer, Charles E.- (D - NY) Class III
313 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6542
Web Form: schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm
Kennedy, Edward M.- (D - MA) Class I
317 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4543
Web Form: kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm
Feinstein, Dianne- (D - CA) Class I
331 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3841
Web Form: feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
Leahy, Patrick J.- (D - VT) Class III
433 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4242
E-mail: senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Stabenow, Debbie- (D - MI) Class I
133 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4822
Web Form: stabenow.senate.gov/email.htm
Durbin, Richard- (D - IL) Class II
332 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2152
Web Form: durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Lincoln, Blanche L.- (D - AR) Class III
355 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4843
Web Form: lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
Feingold, Russell D.- (D - WI) Class III
506 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5323
E-mail: russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov
Harkin, Tom- (D - IA) Class II
731 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3254
Web Form: harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Bayh, Evan- (D - IN) Class III
463 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5623
Web Form: bayh.senate.gov/WebMail1.htm
Biden, Joseph R., Jr.- (D - DE) Class II
201 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
E-mail: senator@biden.senate.gov
Boxer, Barbara- (D - CA) Class III
112 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3553
Web Form: boxer.senate.gov/contact
Menendez, Robert- (D - NJ) Class I
502 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
Web Form: menendez.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Nelson, Bill- (D - FL) Class I
716 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5274
Web Form: billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Obama, Barack- (D - IL) Class III
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Web Form: obama.senate.gov/contact/
Byrd, Robert C.- (D - WV) Class I
311 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3954
Web Form: byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html
Cantwell, Maria- (D - WA) Class I
717 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3441
Web Form: cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.html
Conrad, Kent- (D - ND) Class I
530 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2043
Web Form: conrad.senate.gov/webform.html
Dayton, Mark- (D - MN) Class I
123 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3244
Web Form: dayton.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Dodd, Christopher J.- (D - CT) Class III
September 10th, 2006 at 8:24 pm448 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2823
Web Form: dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3130