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Dems Score With Subpoenas

They can't pass bills, but they can sure hold hearings

By Colleen Barry, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 20, 2007 9:03 AM CDT

(Newser) – Democrats haven't managed to score with a single one of the bills drafted in their giddy first 100 hours, but playing hardball with hearings has proved more fruitful. In cranking up the congressional oversight machinery, write Richard Simon and Noam Levey, they've dominated headlines and applied pressure to the administration.

The new Congress has held over 100 hearings seeking the truth behind scandals ranging from Valerie Plame's outing to the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. With accountability the party's buzzword, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), claims that in the last three weeks, "more people were forced out of their jobs than the entire prior six years."

Military personnel tesify about Defense Department Medical Programs. (Getty Images)

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Dems Score With Subpoenas

They can't pass bills, but they can sure hold hearings

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Bush administration • ethics • Congress • Valerie Plame • investigation • Democrats • Congressional oversight • Democratic Congress • Congressional hearings • subpoena • Walter Reed Army Medical Center • George W. Bush

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More Newser Stories

Democrats Dole Out Subpoenas

Congress gets tough on U.S. attorneys players—and calls Condi in to talk Iraq

Bush Could Block Probes Even After He Steps Down

Soon-to-be ex-prez has Truman, Nixon precedents for keeping executive privilege

House Committee Charges Bush Aides With Contempt

Judiciary Committee votes along party lines to issue contempt citations to Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten

White House Stonewalls on Subpoenas

Bush invokes executive privilege in Senate probe of US attorney firings

Democrats Don't Live Up to Hype

New majority's accomplishments are few, and mostly symbolic

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Dems Score With Subpoenas

They can't pass bills, but they can sure hold hearings

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Bush administration • ethics • Congress • Valerie Plame • investigation • Democrats • Congressional oversight • Democratic Congress • Congressional hearings • subpoena • Walter Reed Army Medical Center • George W. Bush

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Democrats Dole Out Subpoenas

Congress gets tough on U.S. attorneys players—and calls Condi in to talk Iraq

Bush Could Block Probes Even After He Steps Down

Soon-to-be ex-prez has Truman, Nixon precedents for keeping executive privilege

House Committee Charges Bush Aides With Contempt

Judiciary Committee votes along party lines to issue contempt citations to Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten

White House Stonewalls on Subpoenas

Bush invokes executive privilege in Senate probe of US attorney firings

Democrats Don't Live Up to Hype

New majority's accomplishments are few, and mostly symbolic

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?