Posted on 03/30/2006 2:50:22 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday rejected a proposal to withhold money from the National Security Agency if the White House did not reveal information about the cost of the agency's warrantless surveillance program.
In a session closed to reporters, only Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., who heads a subcommittee that oversees the NSA, voted with the Democrats to support the measure to withhold one-fifth of the agency's budget.
The committee also rejected legislation that would force the Bush administration to carve out $3 million for a board created in late 2004 to protect Americans' civil liberties from government infringements. Democrats have complained for months about what they consider to be Republican foot-dragging in establishing the civil liberties panel, formally known as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
The measures would have been part of a bill that would set intelligence funding next year. They come as Democrats have protested a lack of executive branch oversight in Congress.
"We are not standing our ground on any number of differences that we have with the administration — things that are left undone or things that are being done contrary to what we've said," said Rep. Rush Holt (news, bio, voting record), D-N.J., a member of the intelligence committee.
The White House has resisted fully briefing the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on the much-discussed NSA program that monitored — without court warrants — the international calls and e-mails of people in the United States when terrorism was suspected.
In a continuing thaw between the White House and Congress, 11 of the House Intelligence Committee's 21 members were briefed this week on more details of the highly classified program.
Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said she did not believe that getting the cost of the NSA program to the committee would be a "huge project" for the administration. Like all intelligence budgets, the public wouldn't have access to the classified figures.
House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra said he thought the 11 members could have the program's price tag quickly. But he acknowledged a "tug-of-war" with the administration on the number of people who will be fully briefed on the NSA's operations.
He wants to expand the group. "The more people you bring into the process, the better product you will have," Hoekstra said.
Congress approved the civil liberties board's creation in December 2004, and Bush's five appointees had their first meeting two weeks ago.
Holt called the legislation rejected Thursday "a marker stating the committee is frustrated by the glacially slow pace setting this up." He said no one spoke against the board, but "those who voted against it didn't want to attribute any reluctance or bad motives to the administration."
Hoekstra said he wants the board "up and running," and Bush's budget calls for funding for the board's operations. Because of congressional procedures, the Democratic amendment could have slowed down the entire intelligence bill, he said.
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On the Net:
House Intelligence Committee: http://intelligence.house.gov/
... Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., who heads a subcommittee that oversees the NSA, voted with the Democrats to support the measure to withhold one-fifth of the agency's budget.
She was playing two ends against the middle so she couldn't lose either way.
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