House Democrats Thursday easily defeated a Republicans resolution to begin “a bipartisan investigation” into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s accusation last week that the Central Intelligence Committee misled Congress about its use of waterboarding on terror suspects during the Bush Administration.
The resolution was defeated on a mostly party-line vote, 252-172, with no Democrats voting for it.
Democrats labeled the move a political stunt but the resolution allowed the GOP to keep Pelosi’s comments in the spotlight, a full week after she told reporters in her weekly press briefing that she believes she was lied to by the CIA during a 2002 meeting with top congressional leaders on enhanced interrogation techniques being employed by the agency in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“It is deeply disappointing that the majority will allow such a serious accusation from the Speaker go unchecked,” House Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said. “As with any suggestion of serious criminal action, the Speaker‚Äôs claims should be fully investigated. By continuing this cover-up, the White House and the majority in Congress only solidify a cloud of slander over the heads of our intelligence professionals. We must, once and for all, clear the air and let the men and women charged with keeping us safe get back to their important work.”
Republicans contend that if indeed the CIA lied, it is a crime that should be punished.
But the GOP really believes it is Pelosi who is either confused about what was said or is not telling the truth. With the dust barely settled from the attacks in New York and Washington D.C., Democrats and Republicans at the time of the CIA briefings were wholeheartedly supporting the Bush Administration’s efforts to combat terrorism. Republicans argue that since the political winds have shifted, Democrats are shirking their own culpability in endorsing waterboarding tactics.
Pelosi, to her credit, is hardly ducking the issue. She plans on holding her usual press briefing on Friday, where she is sure to pummeled by more questions on the topic.
“This resolution is a political stunt,” Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said. “It is a deliberate attempt to distract from the work the House is doing to create jobs and make progress on health care, energy, and education.”
