There's More than One Way to Hold the Bush Administration Accountable

Statement

There's more than one way to hold the Bush administration accountable

I can very well understand why the citizens of Newfane, Putney, Dummerston, Marlboro and Brookfield voted to support the impeachment of President Bush and to ask me, as Vermont's Congressman, to introduce those articles.

It is my view that President Bush's Administration has been a disaster for our country, and a number of actions that he has taken may very well have been illegal. As I said immediately following the votes, I congratulate those involved in these resolutions for calling attention to the very dangerous policies of this administration and I hope that these votes will help spur conversation throughout the country about the need for fundamental change.

Unfortunately, with Republicans controlling both the House and the Senate and serving as a virtual rubber stamp for the White House, Congressional leaders have consistently refused to hold any serious hearings on Bush's apparent abuses of power or misguided decisions.

Congress needs to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to oversee the President by examining the facts surrounding this administration's conduct, but this will not happen so long as the Republicans control the leadership in every committee in the House of Representatives.

If people are serious about wanting to change the direction of this country and get real investigations into what the Bush Administration has done, we must end the one-party government that we currently have and win the elections in November.

As a member of Congress who helped lead the opposition to the war, I believe that we need a thorough and serious examination into what the White House knew about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before the war and the Administration's conduct during the war.

As someone vigorously opposed to the President's disastrous record on civil liberties, I believe we also need an extensive probe into the legality of President Bush's program to spy on American citizens without congressional or judicial oversight. Once those hearings take place we can let the facts take us wherever they lead.

But Congress must conduct these investigations first for there to be any basis for impeachment hearings. While a number of us have demanded that this happen, I have very little confidence that it will occur under Republican rule.

In my view, those of us who are outraged by the conduct of the Bush Administration must focus our time and energy into ending Republican control over the House and Senate.

From one end of this country to the other we must bring people together to end the one-party government that currently rules our nation. Then, we can not only have serious investigations into the actions of this administration, but can begin making government work for all Americans rather than just wealthy campaign contributors.

Again, I want to express my support for those Vermonters who are increasingly alarmed by the conduct of President Bush and who spoke out during Town Meeting Day. Your voices helped to bring the failed policies of this Administration to light and I look forward to working with you to put our country back on the right track.

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