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Congress whitehouse { March 14 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Thursday, March 14, 2002
Lawmakers Slam White House 'Attitude Problem'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers from both parties blistered the
Bush administration on Thursday for "a severe attitude problem" in its
dealings with Congress, citing a public campaign against their pet
projects and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge's refusal to testify on
Capitol Hill.
Appearing before a House of Representatives Appropriations
subcommittee, White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels apologized for
any "inadvertent" impression created that the White House was slighting
Congress' constitutional role, but defended the effort to restrict the
so-called earmarking of budget funds for programs in individual lawmakers'
districts.
"You and several others in the administration, in my view, have a severe
attitude problem," said Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, the top Democrat on
the Appropriations Committee, which wields considerable power through
its control of the federal government's purse strings.
"I sense you and other Cabinet members feel you could get about the
people's business better if it wasn't for the small-minded and
inconsequential rabble on Capitol Hill that you have to deal with," Obey
said.
The administration angered many lawmakers when it ridiculed a range of
earmarked projects, including an $80,000 rescue sled backed by Obey for
use on frozen lakes, in its recent budget request. The move was part of a
drive to cut their numbers, which have doubled over the last two years to
over 7,800.
That anger has been fed by Ridge's refusal to testify on how the tens of
billions of dollars set aside for U.S. homeland security efforts are being
spent. The White House maintains he does not have to appear before
Congress because he is a presidential adviser, not a Cabinet secretary or
agency head.
BIPARTISAN CRITICISM
"I have to be direct, I am dissatisfied with both the quantity and quality of
information coming out of the administration as it relates to homeland
security," said Oklahoma Republican Rep. Ernest Istook, who chairs the
Appropriations subcommittee on Treasury and General Government,
which controls the White House's budget.
"I hope that the lack of necessary information does not compel us to
withhold funds for the priorities established by the president," he said. "No
information, no money."
In response Daniels said that while he now hoped to mend fences with
Congress on the earmarking question and it might be time "to let this
subject go," lawmakers would also have to accept that times had changed
since Sept. 11.
"There are transcendent priorities; the protection of America and the
defeat of a foe that's out to harm us," he said. "Individual and provincial
and territorial priorities, however important they may be in isolation, may
have to give way this year, will have to give way."
Daniels acknowledged the question of how Ridge should interact with
Congress was a legitimate one, but said he could shed little light on it
because it was outside his particular area.
"I will say this, I know ... the president and his support team absolutely
affirm the constitutional importance of the Congress," he said. "There may
be differences of interpretation when it gets to a single job."
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