Day: November 5, 2007

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s House Resolution 333, which seeks to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, has 21 co-sponsors in the House. Check the list and if your rep is on it, call his or her office or drop an e-mail to say thanks:

Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 8/1/2007
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] – 7/24/2007
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] – 6/6/2007
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] – 5/1/2007
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] – 8/4/2007
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] – 6/28/2007
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] – 7/12/2007
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] – 7/12/2007
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] – 8/4/2007
Rep Johnson, Henry C. “Hank,” Jr. [GA-4] – 6/28/2007
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] – 9/7/2007
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] – 6/7/2007
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] – 7/10/2007
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] – 7/10/2007
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] – 8/1/2007
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] – 5/1/2007
Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] – 9/27/2007
Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] – 6/12/2007
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] – 10/16/2007
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 6/7/2007
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4] – 5/10/2007

The resolution was introduced April 24, and the dates that follow the names in the list are when each co-sponsor signed on.

Something momentous is about to happen, and it could mean the end of the Bush administration’s dominance over Congress. The Legislative branch is finally set to rear back on its hind legs and take a swipe at Bush by handing him his first veto override.

I’m betting that once it gets started, Congress will keep right on ripping.

The issue at hand is innocuous enough. On Friday, Bush exercised his fifth presidential veto to refuse legislation passed overwhelmingly to address one of this country’s worst domestic problems: water issues.

Bush brushed aside significant objections from Capitol Hill, even from Republicans, in vetoing legislation that provides $23 billion for projects like repairing hurricane damage, restoring wetlands and preventing flooding in communities across the nation…

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, pledged to work to override the veto. “We are facing a water infrastructure crisis and our national investment in water resources has not kept pace with our level of economic expansion,” Voinovich said.

You know Bush has blown it when even the Republicans are vowing to fight.

Bush never vetoed spending bills under the Republican Congress, despite budgetary increases then, too. Attempting to demonstrate fiscal toughness in the seventh year of his presidency, Bush risked being criticized for doing too little, too late and of waging a transparently partisan attack against the Democrats who now run Capitol Hill.

The president took the gamble, though without any public fanfare, as part of a broader effort to take on Democratic leaders frequently and more pointedly.

This is one bet Bush is going to lose. There are just too many good reasons to support the bill, and almost none to oppose it. The evidence of that is the bill’s easy passage — in the House the vote was 381-40, and in the Senate, 81-12.

One story labeled his strategy, “government by minority.”

But I think Bush miscalculated. He’s teasing the dog that’s always been tied to the tree one too many times. When the rope breaks and Congress gets a taste of blood — remembering what it feels like to be an equal participant in the governing process — who knows where it will stop?

Tomorrow:

House Resolution 333, the impeachment of Dick Cheney for High Crimes and Misdemeanors will be brought to the House floor by Congressman Dennis Kucinich as a privilege vote on Tuesday, Nov. 6th. American Research Group Poll says 54 percent of Americans favor the impeachment of Cheney and the National Lawyer’s Guild passed a Resolution for Impeachment on Friday, Nov. 2nd, giving further support for the impeachment proceedings.