GOP-Led Congress Increasingly Defies Bush [View All]

GOP-Led Congress Increasingly Defies Bush

By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- A feisty Congress has left for a summer recess with a blunt reminder to President Bush: Republican control of the House and Senate does not give him carte blanche on Capitol Hill.

The GOP-controlled Congress has in recent weeks defied Bush on domestic policies ranging from drug imports to media deregulation to tax credits for the working poor.

Congress is also presenting new challenges to Bush in foreign affairs. Members of both parties have expressed qualms about postwar policy in Iraq. The No. 2 House GOP leader has questioned Bush's "road map" to peace in the Middle East. And the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee last week criticized the president's policy on Liberia.

To be sure, Republicans have stuck with Bush on major fiscal and foreign policy matters. But on a variety of fronts, Congress is showing more independence from Bush than at any point since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

more:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-congress3aug03,1,2891793.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Now all we need is a big fat inquiry into his multiple crimes and betrayals.