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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: House strips Bush of US Attorneys appointment authority House strips Bush of US Attorneys appointment authority Michael Roston In a 329-78 vote last night, the House of Representatives followed the Senate and stripped President George W. Bush of the authority to appoint United States Attorneys on an interim basis, ending the ability of the Bush administration to do an end run around the Senate in putting controversial US Attorneys in office. The bill sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) places a 120-day limit to the term of a United States Attorney appointed on an interim basis. Democrats allege that the previous authority to appoint interim US Attorneys on an unlimited basis, inserted stealthily into the 2006 reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, was used as a 'loophole' to insert Bush administration political loyalists into office. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the 'awesome powers' of the US Attorneys required Senate confirmation of their appointments. "The bill before us today...will restore the historical checks and balances to the process by which interim U.S. Attorneys are appointed," he said. "It will repair a breach in the law that has been a major contributing factor in the recent termination of eight able and experienced United States Attorneys and their replacement with interim appointments." Democrats cited e-mails from the Bush administration on the House floor yesterday as evidence that the interim appointment authority had been abused. Rep. Berman pointed to an e-mail from Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who said "We should gum this to death. Our guy is in there so the status quo is good for us. Pledge a desire for a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney and otherwise hunker down." "They quickly figured out that the provision created the possibility to circumvent the Senate and decided to exploit that power," Berman added. House Republicans offered thin opposition on the House floor. Rep. Lamar Smith, the Ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, described his objection as primarily procedural, and voted to support the bill. "One hearing was held on the bill. But that hearing focused mostly on the current U.S. Attorney controversy, not the bill, itself," he said. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) also warned that giving judges the ability to appoint US Attorneys after 120 days was 'not infallible.' "Some said authorizing the judiciary to appoint the prosecutors before their court created a conflict of interest, and I think a good argument can be made for that," he explained. But Conyers defended the previous arrangement of judge-appointed interim US Attorneys, claiming that it "preserved the incentives on the Executive and Legislative Branches to work together on the nomination and confirmation of a permanent replacement." The Senate measure passed on a 94-2. The measure will proceed to the White House for approval after being considered in a House-Senate conference.
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I thought the House vote was this morning, but it turns out it was last night.
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