Boston Globe 9/20/2001
United in crisis, legislators give Bush great discretion
By Susan Milligan, and Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff, 9/20/2001
''People have been talking about America's loss of innocence,'' said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton. ''It's more about our loss of guilt, from Vietnam and colonialism. This is going to be a quantitatively different response. After people have done this to us, we do not feel guilty about responding responsibly.''
Some lawmakers have raised concerns about handing President Bush too much authority, but for the most part, members of Congress - even Bush's most ardent critics - have been willing to award the White House great discretion in handling the crisis.
The same liberals who accused Bush of stealing the election are now standing behind him. Pentagon skeptics joined military boosters last week to give Bush sweeping authority to use force against terrorism. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, has proposed issuing war bonds.
Lawmakers who just weeks ago worried about depleting the dwindling budget surplus are now eager to fund the war effort.
''`Whatever it takes' is the phrase,'' said Representative Jose E. Serrano, Democrat of New York and a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Members of Congress acknowledge that they are being told little in the group briefings the administration has conducted for them. But instead of complaining that they are being left out of the loop, lawmakers recall the loose-lips-sink-ships warning of World War II.
''I don't want to know about the investigation. If enough of us know, then you guys [in the media] are going to know ... and then the bad guys are going to know,'' Frank said.
Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Malden, said he didn't expect to be informed before the first military strike.
Lawmakers insist they will not give Bush a blank check for military action or spending authority. They are also determined, they said, to prevent Bush from using the crisis to push through controversial elements of his domestic agenda.
Representative William M. Thomas, Republican of California, is trying to win support for a cut in the capital gains tax. Frank, meanwhile, will counter today with a proposal to trim the Bush tax cut for the highest-income earners. The move would save about $100 billion over 10 years and replenish the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, Frank said.
But overwhelmingly, Congress has backed Bush, causing some members to worry that the legislative branch is surrendering too much power to the executive.
''History repeats itself over and over again. The idea of national security is a shared responsibility,'' said Representative John F. Tierney, Democrat of Salem. Tierney sought unsuccessfully to amend the resolution authorizing Bush to use force to include a requirement that the president consult with Congress.
''Nobody's saying he [Bush] has to be hamstrung. Nobody's saying he has to be slowed down. [But] if you're going to share responsibility, you have to share information. There has to be trust there,'' Tierney said.
''It's a rally-round-the-flag thing'' that may evaporate in four to six weeks, said historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. ''I would think people would remember the Vietnam experience. This administration has not earned the confidence of anybody in foreign policy.''
The briefings the administration has given to Congress have been ''briefings lite,'' with little details offered, griped one Democratic staff member. Some lawmakers speculated that the administration clamped down after Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, revealed information about electronic surveillance to the news media last week.
''The briefings to date were very general, very generic, what you would get reading the paper,'' said Senator Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat who sits on the Armed Services Committee. ''Last week, they didn't know a lot, and second, they were concerned about tipping their hand.''
Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he ''did not find [the White House briefing] incredibly informative,'' but at least it ''did take place.''
Bush, who has had an up-and-down relationship with legislators during his first nine months in office, plans to ''take a consultative approach with Congress and a deliberative approach as well,'' said Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman.
But military specialists said administrations typically tighten the flow of information during wartime and should be expected to do so under the current situation. ''You just do not normally disclose the details of an ongoing investigation,'' said John Pike, a defense analyst at Global Security.org.
At this point, Democratic leaders aren't complaining. The Senate majority leader, Thomas A. Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, told committee chairmen at a private meeting yesterday he was very pleased with the cooperation of the White House, reported Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.
''What's going to happen down the road? We'll have to wait and see,'' Kennedy said. ''But there is a spirit in Congress for genuine bipartisanship.'' Kennedy did say, however, that he was worried that some lawmakers might use the opportunity to push through a preexisting agenda.
''The World War II analogy is correct,'' said Representative Mark Steven Kirk, Republican of Illinois. ''This is the first time we've had a national security tragedy of this nature. All the arguments pale in the shadow of 6,000 bodies.''
Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
