A Senate Panel voted 5-4 tonight along party lines to deny Dick Cheney's budget for his office in the next fiscal year. Democrats were prompted to do so because the VP has blatantly disregarded the law and specifically declared himself to be above the law by claiming his office wasn't in the Executive branch. Cheney is trying to avoid the laws set down by the Constitution concerning his office because, well....it gets in his way.
From Yahoo News:
At issue is a requirement that executive branch offices provide data on how much material they classify and declassify. That information is to be provided to the Information Security Oversight Office at The National Archives.
Cheney's office, with backing from the White House, argues that the offices of the president and vice president are exempt from the order because they are not executive branch "agencies."
The funding cut came as the appropriations panel approved 5-4 along party lines a measure funding White House operations, the Treasury Department and many smaller agencies.
Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Cheney's office was flouting requirements that it comply with the reporting requirements on classified information.
"Neither Mr. Cheney or his staff is above the law or the Constitution," Durbin said. "For the vice president to believe that he has no responsibility to meet this requirement of the law is a dereliction of duty."
Cheney has been derelict of his duty for some time now. This is just another episode in his war against our democracy. He wants things his way and if that conflicts with the rule of law, his own interests win out every single time. He only gets away with it because we as a nation allow him to be in that office with the power that it affords and is gaining with Cheney at the helm. There is only one answer to this problem and it starts with the letter "I."
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