Congress returns ready for battle

By LAURIE KELLMAN - Associated Press
Monday, July 9, 2007 1:24 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — Congressmen returning from their Independence Day break are ready for battle with the White House, with Democrats decrying President Bush’s commutation of former aide I. Lewis ‘‘Scooter’’ Libby’s prison sentence and fighting Bush’s latest claim of executive privilege.

Both events occurred around Congress’ vacation, inflaming an intense battle between Democrats and Bush over his use of executive power. There was relatively high tension on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as majority Democrats — and increasing numbers of Republicans — challenged Bush’s Iraq war policy.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said Monday there had been ‘‘a steady erosion for the president’s policy’’ in Congress because of the ‘‘tremendous loss of life among our troops’’ in June and ‘‘the failure of the Iraqi government to pursue the political reforms that are necessary to quell the sectarian violence.’’

Meanwhile, several Democratic-run investigations are playing out this week as they head toward contempt of Congress citations and, if neither side yields, federal court:

—Today is the deadline for the White House to explain why Bush is refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena for e-mails and other documents on his aides’ involvement in the firings of eight federal prosecutors last winter. The White House is not expected to comply with the deadline.

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—In a pair of hearings Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will look at Bush’s commutation last week of Libby’s prison sentence for obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hear from former White House political director Sara Taylor about the prosecutor firings, according to Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

—The next day, the House panel is expected to turn to the prosecutor firings and has scheduled testimony from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. It’s unclear whether she will appear.

On Iraq, Democrats expect to resume legislative challenges to Bush’s policy on the war as the Senate this week takes up a major defense spending bill.

The administration has been concerned about an escalation of Iraqi war fervor. So much so that Defense Secretary Robert Gates canceled a four-nation South American tour this week to work with the White House on Iraq policy.

Collins is among the Senate Republicans seeking to see U.S. troops departing Iraq by early 2008. Bush’s strategy for a short-term troop increase to stabilize Baghdad and certain parts of Iraq has not been successful, she said.

‘‘The president argued that we needed to undertake the surge in order to give the Iraq government the time, the space to pursue the political reforms,’’ Collins said on CNN. ‘‘That hasn’t happened. Instead it has been our troops who are making the sacrifice, who are bearing the burden, and that’s why you see a real change in support for the Iraq strategy.’’

In Baghdad today, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned that a quick American troop withdrawal could lead to civil war and the collapse of the Iraqi state.

He said the U.S. has a responsibility to build Iraqi forces so that they can take over the country’s security. But he also told reporters that the Iraqis ‘‘understand the huge pressure that will increase more and more in the United States’’ ahead of a September report to Congress by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and military commander Gen. David Petraeus.

The weeklong Fourth of July break did not cool disputes between Congress and the White House. In fact, Bush’s commutation of Libby’s prison sentence teed up a new project for Democratic investigators.

Leahy and others said they suspect that Bush commuted Libby’s sentence to keep Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff from revealing internal White House discussions.

So they are talking to the prosecutor in the CIA case, Patrick Fitzgerald, about testifying before Congress, several senators said Sunday.