Roberts Came Very Close To Losing Snowe And Hagel

by Steve

In recent days, I have accused Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe for caving in to White House pressure by backing away from their earlier concerns over the illegal NSA spying program. It appears that there was more going on behind the scenes than just a simple cave-in. Tomorrow’s Post reports that after Andy Card tried to pressure Snowe against supporting an independent inquiry and a resolution calling for one by Jay Rockefeller, she and Hagel told Pat Roberts that if he tried to push through a vote to kill Rockefeller’s resolution, they would break ranks and support the inquiry. The news came as such a surprise to Roberts that he signaled his support for Arlen Specter’s proposal to refer the administration’s programs to the FISA court for a ruling as to their legality, and called off any further committee action until at least March 7th, by which time it is assumed that negotiations will have been concluded with the White House on greater oversight and the referral to the FISA court.

In effect, Roberts was forced to push through a cooling off period and recess, rather than push for an immediate vote that he and the White House would have lost, thanks to Andy Card’s arrogance.