House Democrats will postpone votes on criminal contempt citations against White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, while congressional leaders work with President Bush on a bipartisan stimulus package to fend off an economic downturn, according to party leaders and leadership aides.



Senior Democrats have decided that holding a controversial vote on the contempt citations, which have already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, would “step on their message” of bipartisan unity in the midst of the stimulus package talks.

“Right now, we’re focused on working in a bipartisan fashion on [the] stimulus,” said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), indicating that the contempt vote is not expected for weeks, depending on how quickly the stimulus package moves.



Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said “no decision has been made” as to when a criminal contempt vote would be held by the House.

The Congress is too busy giving away money to people they hope to have vote for them (not that it's wrong, but some long-term regulatory and policy shifts instead of handouts would be nice) to bother themselves with the rule of law It's enough of a struggle to get Congress to walk, you don't expect them to chew gum at the same time, do you?These citations were originally approved in the Judiciary Committee LAST JULY, by the way.They will NEVER be voted upon, I think that much is clear. There will always be an excuse. And there will always be Blue Dogs unwilling to "look weak" by doing something strong. Democratic aides admit they don't even have the votes in the House to protect their own oversight responsibilities. And so a President will have set the precedent of extending executive privilege even further, and Congress will become even more irrelevant.I liked it better when they were out of session, it was much easier on my stomach.

Labels: Congress, executive privilege, Harriet Miers, Josh Bolten, Nancy Pelosi, separation of powers, Steny Hoyer, subpoenas