Speaker John Boehner said that President Obama must explain why the NSA program is important, but that he was sure that the intelligence committees were involved, and congress approved it.
At his weekly press conference, Boehner said, “There are public policy and civil liberties concerns amongst Americans today. I trust that the president will explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from the threats of a terrorist attack.”
The Speaker was asked if this was potentially taking things to another level. He answered, “I am fully confident that both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees will, have provided oversight on the subject, and will continue to provide oversight on the subject. But it’s important for the president to outline to the American people why the tools that he has available are critical to the threats that we may have, so I’ll leave it to them to explain. Congress approved it. We’ll provide the oversight, but I think it’s time for the president to outline the issues here, and why in fact, it’s important.”
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Boehner later repeated that the Patriot Act gave the president the tools, and it is up to Obama to explain why this is important. Speaker Boehner would not say if he had been briefed on, or knew about the program. (Wink-win, that means he did.)
President Obama and the White House were not going rogue. The Senate had been briefed on, and has known about the program for years. Glenn Greenwald’s big story has turned out to be nothing that wasn’t already known in Washington for years. A 2011 letter from the White House to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) notes that members of Congress have been briefed on this program in multiple ways since 2009.
The mainstream media is already rejecting Greenwald’s drama by asking if this is really a scandal. People are quickly concluding that this isn’t a scandal.
It may not be a scandal, but a Patriot Act is an important policy issue. The bigger scandal is that congressional Republicans and Democrats continue to support a piece of law that gives any president such broad powers.
Verizongate may turn out to be the shortest Obama scandal in history.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
