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Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill

By TChris, Section War on Terror
Posted on Fri Nov 04, 2005 at 07:50:05 AM EST
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by TChris

The Senate, defying the White House, overwhelmingly passed Sen. John McCain’s bill to prohibit the abuse of detainees. That language is not in the House version of the military spending package to which it was attached in the Senate, so House and Senate conferees will need to decide whether to include it in the version that goes to the president. Vice President Cheney’s effort to persuade McCain to soften the bill’s language went nowhere.

House Democrats planned to introduce a motion that would instruct House conferees to adopt McCain’s language. They’ve been stymied by Speaker Dennis Hastert’s refusal to appoint the conferees. Now why would Hastert be dragging his feet?

Democrats on Thursday were quick to accuse Mr. Hastert, a close friend and political ally of Mr. Cheney, of taking steps to postpone a vote that would embarrass the vice president at a time when his former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., is under indictment in the C.I.A. leak case. "At a time when we should be protecting American service men and women from torture and improving our sullied international reputation, the majority in the House is more interested in protecting the vice president and this administration from embarrassment," said Representative Ellen O. Tauscher, a California Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

House Republicans have often been unconcerned about what Democrats think, but McCain’s bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the Senate and has attracted some Republican support in the House.

Last week, 15 House Republicans wrote Representative C. W. Bill Young, a Florida Republican who heads the Appropriations Committee, in support of Mr. McCain's provision. The lawmakers said that they strongly endorsed Mr. Bush's efforts to defeat terrorism, but that the McCain provision would aid American troops in the field without interfering with presidential prerogatives. "We believe the antitorture provisions are vital to protecting American service members in the field both now and in the future," they wrote on Oct. 27.

Hastert should realize that protecting Cheney from an awkward legislative defeat is less important than affirming the country’s commitment to the humane treatment of prisoners. Isn’t it more important to save the country from continuing international embarrassment than it is to save Cheney from another political embarrassment?

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    • Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill | 6 comments (6 topical)
    Re: Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:45 PM EST
    Hastert must be worried about endangering those fat contracts Haliburton has landed in Poland and Romania to 'modernize' the soviet era gulags. Oh, because of national security interests those contracts are so secret that the only senators who know about them are Hastert and Roberts. They are not even good for the economy as the 'branch' of Haliburton officially handeling the work is off shore and not required to pay US income tax on the profits.

    Re: Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:45 PM EST
    Hastert is in a damned if you do, damned if you don't. If he allows this to go on to the WH, he will be pi**ing off the head of his party. If he obstructs it, it'll be a lovely little millstone to hang on the necks of some of the GOP come '06. Especially since it has McCain's support. Heh-indeedy.

    Re: Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill (none / 0) (#3)
    by owenz on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:45 PM EST
    It's no coincidence that the Washington Post ran it's story on secret CIA prisons at this moment. I'm fairly confident the story was leaked by CIA officers who want the torture to stop (i.e. they want to influence this vote). The real question is: does the story matter? Confronted with the existance of real, illegal CIA torture shops around the globe, will the House still try to gut McCain's bill?

    Re: Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill (none / 0) (#4)
    by Steven Sanderson on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:45 PM EST
    It's important to the Bush/Cheney administration to continue using torture for one reason and one reason only: to terrorize all who oppose them in their attempt to expand their colonial empire. Bush/Cheney will go to any extreme to retain their ability to use torture at will. Contrary to what wingnuts believe, this, or any, administration's use of torture will not be confined to "enemies" in distant lands. When backed into a corner, tortue will most certainly be used against American "enemies" of the state.

    Re: Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:45 PM EST
    I sure wish that our resident wingnuts would explain why these guys have an outright fetish for torture.

    Re: Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:45 PM EST
    Scar, it's something to do with Jesus. :-(

    Hastert Stalls House Response to McCain Bill | 6 comments (6 topical)