Letter back from our Congresswoman:

First of all, I want to wish you happy holidays and a very happy New Year. Thanks to all of you for your feedback and comments to my last email, in which I urged you to sign a petition calling on Congressman James Sensenbrenner Jr., Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Peter Hoekstra, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to hold hearings demanding answers about the Bush administration's spying on American citizens. If you haven't signed my petition yet, please join the thousands of other Americans who have signed it already, by going here:

http://www.votelouise.com/DemandHearingsforSpying

But I will not be satisfied just by demanding hearings from my Republican colleagues. I have also submitted a Resolution of Inquiry (H. RES. 644) in the House of Representatives requesting the President and directing the Attorney General to turn over to the House any and all documents relating to the authorization of this secret spying program on American citizens. Here is the text of that resolution:

http://www.votelouise.com/blog/310/time-for-bush-to-turn-over-his-papers-re-spying-on-americans

The issue here is whether the President violated any rule of law. Here is what indicted Representative Tom DeLay said back in 1998, when he came out in support of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, based on the highest standard of the "rule of law":

[T]his nation sits at a crossroads. One direction points to the higher road of the rule of law. Sometimes hard, sometimes unpleasant, this path relies on truth, justice and the rigorous application of the principle that no man is above the law. Now, the other road is the path of least resistance. This is where we start making exceptions to our laws based on poll numbers and spin control. This is when we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us, when we ignore the facts in order to cover up the truth. ...

No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That's the principle that we all hold very dear in this country.

Tom DeLay's words are deeply ironic, but also illuminating for all of us at a time when we are reading story after story about government spying on American citizens. These stories raise questions about whether the President of the United States violated any rule of law under the Foreign Intelligence Service Act and the United States Constitution by authorizing domestic surveillance over American citizens without first obtaining court-approved warrants.

That is why the House of Representatives must step up and do its part to hold this Administration accountable for its actions and demand answers by conducting thorough and dignified hearings concerning spying on Americans. So, if you have not signed my petition yet, please sign it today and pass it on:

http://www.votelouise.com/DemandHearingsforSpying

Let's not let up on this issue of spying on our own citizens. I am doing everything I can to do my part as an elected official in the U. S. Congress to seek answers and accountability from this Administration. That is why I submitted the Resolution of Inquiry, which I will urge all of my colleagues in the House to support so that we can get all the facts behind this spying program. Meanwhile, if you have any other ideas, feedback, or suggestions on how we can keep focus on this very important issue in Congress, and maintain this as one of the major topics in our national political discourse going into 2006, please post them on my web journal by going here:

http://www.votelouise.com/blog

Thanks again for your support, passion, and all of your work to restore faith in our democracy.

In Solidarity,

Congresswoman


Louise M. Slaughter