The No-So-Fine Print
Provision in intelligence bill would cancel US elections.
WASHINGTON (XF) - The Xsociate Files has learned that a provision buried in an intelligence bill passed by the House back in April seeks to postpone indefinitely the upcoming mid-term elections. According to a source with the Justice Department who spoke to XF on the condition of anonymity, the provision was inserted into the bill as the final step in the Bush administration's gradual shift away from promoting democracy overseas.
"Well, since Hezbollah and Hamas gained power as a result of the elections in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, we felt it was time to really rethink this whole 'democracy' thing here too," the source said.
When word of the existence of the provision surfaced, House Democrats immediately condemned it as an attempt by the White House to thwart any change in the Congressional leadership come November. And while the reaction to the provision is not a surprise since recent polls show a majority of Americans favor a Democrat controlled Congress, the timing is unusual.
Indeed, no similar opposition to the provision was aired at the time the bill passed in the House by a vote of 327 to 96 nearly five months ago. However, it is believed that this lack of a response is due to the fact that many Representatives abstained from reading the bill prior to voting for it.
"It's not unusual for a member of Congress to vote on a bill without reading the entire thing," an aide for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, "Some bills are hundreds of pages long, with sometimes thousands of provisions. If they had to read each and every one completely, they wouldn't get anything done."
"But this is one of those instances when they really should have read the bill," the aide concluded.
WASHINGTON (XF) - The Xsociate Files has learned that a provision buried in an intelligence bill passed by the House back in April seeks to postpone indefinitely the upcoming mid-term elections. According to a source with the Justice Department who spoke to XF on the condition of anonymity, the provision was inserted into the bill as the final step in the Bush administration's gradual shift away from promoting democracy overseas.
"Well, since Hezbollah and Hamas gained power as a result of the elections in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, we felt it was time to really rethink this whole 'democracy' thing here too," the source said.
When word of the existence of the provision surfaced, House Democrats immediately condemned it as an attempt by the White House to thwart any change in the Congressional leadership come November. And while the reaction to the provision is not a surprise since recent polls show a majority of Americans favor a Democrat controlled Congress, the timing is unusual.
Indeed, no similar opposition to the provision was aired at the time the bill passed in the House by a vote of 327 to 96 nearly five months ago. However, it is believed that this lack of a response is due to the fact that many Representatives abstained from reading the bill prior to voting for it.
"It's not unusual for a member of Congress to vote on a bill without reading the entire thing," an aide for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, "Some bills are hundreds of pages long, with sometimes thousands of provisions. If they had to read each and every one completely, they wouldn't get anything done."
"But this is one of those instances when they really should have read the bill," the aide concluded.
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