GOP Congress does not operate that way

GOP Congress does not operate that way

Scandal! Impeach! This is how a Republican Congress deals with a president from the Democratic Party.

Scandal No. 1: Benghazi. The Congress should fully fund the security forces guarding our embassies and consulates around the world. This Congress cut the security budget, and four Americans died.

Scandal No. 2: IRS targets conservative groups which seek tax exempt status. After the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, the IRS was inundated with applications for this tax exempt status. It was the IRS’s responsibility to question the organizations to find out if they qualified, and were not mostly political organizations. John Boehner wants to know who is going to jail over this scandal. Policy may have been breached, but no laws were broken. The Tea Party, since its inception has had an anti-tax ideology. They should be flagged for increased scrutiny. Liberal groups should be flagged also. Congress can fix this by improving the tax code and clarifying who qualifies for tax exempt status.

Scandal No. 3: Government sweeps Associated Press’s phone records looking for a security leak. Again, Congress, not the Constitution, gave the executive branch enormous power when it passed the Patriot Act after 9/11. That meant every president, including the current one, could use these powers. If Congress doesn’t want the executive branch to exercise these powers, repeal the Patriot Act.

Congress can fix all these so-called scandals by exercising their duties as the legislative branch of the government. That would require that the Congress actually govern. Unfortunately, a Republican Congress doesn’t operate that way.

Diane Niesman

Wheaton