The Most Transparent Administration Ever Tells Congress Czars Won’t Testify

The most transparent White House evah is defying Congress and the American people by refusing to allow the many czars to testify. Can’t say I blame them, Glenn Beck and Naked Emporer News could dig up even more dirt on the lunatics and embarrass their boss.

The Washington Times reported:

The White House has told Congress it will reject calls for many of President Obama’s policy czars to testify before Congress – a decision senators said goes against the president’s promises of transparency and openness and treads on Congress’ constitutional mandate to investigate the administration’s actions.

Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, said White House counsel Greg Craig told her in a meeting Wednesday that they will not make available any of the czars who work in the White House and don’t have to go through Senate confirmation. She said he was “murky” on whether other czars outside of the White House would be allowed to come before Congress.

Miss Collins said that doesn’t make sense when some of those czars are actually making policy or negotiating on behalf of Mr. Obama.

“I think Congress should be able to call the president’s climate czar, Carol Browner, the energy and environment czar, to ask her about the negotiations she conducted with the automobile industry that led to very significant policy changes with regard to emissions standards,” Miss Collins said at a hearing Thursday that examined the proliferation of czars.

The debate goes to the heart of weighty constitutional issues about separation of powers. The president argues that he should be allowed to have advisers who are free to give him confidential advice without having to fear being called to testify about it. Democrats and Republicans in Congress, though, argue that those in office who actually craft policy should be able to be summoned to testify because they do more than just give the president advice. …

Speaking of transparency, Let Freedom Ring produced a new video comparing Obama’s rhetoric to reality. (Via Townhall)

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.