Rewriting The Rules

In dramatic  letter carefully sent to Harry Reid at the end of the newscycle on Friday, ensuring that it has yet to be reported in a single major newspaper, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened to re-write the rules of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Due to the extremely sensitive nature of the work the committee does, it has up until now been uniquely bipartisan, giving both parties equal seats and co-chairmanship to allow full discussion. Frist is threatening to turn it into another Republican rubber stamp. Why?

Because tomorrow, March 7, the committee will decide whether or not to begin investigations into the administration's warrantless wiretapping of Americans. And Frist is worried that this critical use of the checks and balances of government is "of little or no value" to the nation.

Blogger Glenn Greenwald has full analysis here, and VichyDems has contact information for a state-by-state grass-roots campaign to contact Republican senators who have indicated they want an investigation, Democrats to urge them to fight and everyone to alert them of the danger if Frist is allowed to eviscerate Congressional oversight.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future