LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – Democratic Senator Russell Feingold is reviving his effort to have the U.S. Congress censure President George W. Bush, a move that his party’s leader in the Senate doesn’t support, Bloombergs report.
Feingold, of Wisconsin, said today he is preparing two resolutions to censure Bush and other administration officials over their handing of the Iraq war and domestic eavesdropping.
“We need to do something serious in terms of accountability,” Feingold said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “This administration has assaulted the Constitution.”
Censure would amount to a formal criticism of the administration and wouldn’t force any policy chances. Feingold, a frequent critic of the administration and the Iraq war, last year failed to win support for a censure of Bush’s wiretapping program that allows the government to monitor telephone calls and e-mail from within the U.S. to suspected terrorists overseas without a court order.
An administration spokesman dismissed Feingold’s effort.
“We realize that Senator Feingold does not care much for the president’s policies, but we would welcome the opportunity to work with him and anyone else in the Senate majority on important legislation” on subjects such as military funding, energy, health care and taxes, White House spokesman Trey Bohn said an e-mailed response.
Harry Reid, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that lawmakers have more pressing priorities than censuring Bush.
