See what Obama agreeing with Republicans causes? The Progressives are hitting Obama below the belt. I admit, it is fun to watch.
(CNSNew.com) – At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Thursday, Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) echoed panelists who were testifying, saying that both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations represent an “imperial presidency” and that President Obama has failed to keep his promise to shut down Guantanamo, end military operations abroad, and has continued to expand the power of the executive branch.
This is the same John Conyers who laughed at taxpayers who demanded that politicians read the bill before signing them into law. His wife, Monica, is serving 37 months in prison for bribes and corruption. Last week, Conyers son had his [Conyers] vehicle and it was broken into raising the question of why a Congressman’s son was in possession of a vehicle registered to the government. This from a guy who is over the House Judiciary Committee.
“The power of what has begun to be termed the imperial presidency grows, and the ability of our Democratic institutions, especially the federal legislative branch – us – to constrain it seems more uncertain,” Conyers said in his opening remarks at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
Conyers said the Obama administration continues to use executive privilege as strategy for national security at the cost of Americans’ civil rights.
“The repeated invocation of the state secrets privilege, which has gone on in recent years, including this administration, to an incredible new height,” Conyers said.
Conyers said the Obama administration has “shut down complaints, investigations and lawsuits challenging executive branch action, such as illegal domestic surveillance, torture and rendition.”
Linda Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Washington legislative office, testified that the Obama administration has continued the expansion of executive branch power.
“From the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping to the Obama administration’s targeting killing program, the power claimed by the executive branch has grown exponentially over the last 10 years,” Murphy said.
“To realign our system of checks and balances, Congress must continue to forcefully reassert its oversight duty to ensure that the executive branch does not continue to expand its powers without regard for Americans’ basic liberties,” she added.
An ACLU press release distributed to reporters at the hearing said Murphy’s testimony was about how “the executive branch of the U.S. government has obtained dangerously broad powers.”
