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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIts an Attack on Democracy
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/06/the_white_house_s_latest_attack_on_democracy_is_unprecedented.htmlIts an Attack on Democracy
The White House decision to reject any and all Democratic oversight requests in an unprecedented act of nullification.
By Jamelle Bouie
Last week, President Trumps White House took a significant but little noticed action. At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with {any oversight} requests from Democrats, reported Politico. This is the formalization of an ongoing practice of sidelining such requestswhich were often responded to in previous administrationsamid Republican fear that any evidence could be used against the president. As Politico reports oversight letters requesting information from agencies have gone unanswered since January.
Whats more, the White House Office of Legal Counsel holds that no minority lawmakerincluding ranking members of a given committeecan be granted information without the approval of the chairperson. As long as Republicans hold both chambers of Congress, in other words, they can lock Democrats out of any meaningful oversight authority. Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, calls this the latest in a series of abuses by the Trump administration to operate in a shroud of secrecy, a move that overturns long-standing norms and practices raising the standard for congressional inquiry to an almost unreachable high. Yes, previous administrations, Democrat and Republican, have ignored or slow-walked oversight requests from opposition lawmakers. But this blanket rejection is a major escalation of partisan combat in governance, an outright statement that Democrats have no prerogatives a Republican administration is bound to even acknowledge.
Its an attack on democracy. Members of Congress represent the people, and refusal to provide them with the information they want or need as a matter of policy is saying that were going to shut down half of Congress, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York told Slate. To systematically say were not going to give people the time of day to half the members of Congress just because theyre the wrong political party, thats smacking the American people in the nose. Its saying how dare you elect Democrats; we dont approve of what you did.
More broadly, White House rejection of opposition oversight is in keeping with actions from congressional Republicans, as well as Republicans at the state level. Americas two-party democracy only works if both sides see each other as legitimate actors with the right to wield power should they win it. The Democratic Party, as evidenced by the rapid and normal transfer of power from President Obama to President Trump, still holds that principle. But increasingly, it seems the GOP does not.
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http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/06/the_white_house_s_latest_attack_on_democracy_is_unprecedented.html
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Its an Attack on Democracy (Original Post)
babylonsister
Jun 2017
OP
Zoonart
(11,868 posts)1. YEP!
It's a coup.