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New York Post Editorial
Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is about to break a pre-election pledge with record speed. And this time, it’s one of the cornerstone promises of the Democrats’ victorious campaign to retake control of Congress. Both before and after Election Day, Pelosi and top Democratic leaders vowed to implement all 41 recommendations of the 9/11 Commission headed by former Gov. Tom Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton.
Indeed, Pelosi and House Majority Leader-elect Steny Hoyer publicly vowed to enact the panel’s full agenda within the “first 100 legislative hours” after the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 4. But that, The Washington Post now reports, ain’t gonna happen.…And it’s all thanks to petty politics.…
What are Democrats proposing? Why, a commission of their own, says The Washington Post, to “look at the issue and produce recommendations” somewhere down the line. The 9/11 Commission also called for an end to term limits for the intelligence committees – in order to allow its members to develop long-term expertise.
But in passing over Rep. Jane Harman, the panel’s senior Democrat, for the chairmanship in favor of Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas because of a longstanding personal spat, Pelosi reportedly cited term limits as the reason. So she can’t very well go ahead and pass that recommendation now, either.
Breaking fundamental campaign promises is par for the course for the new majority party. On the other hand, the best hope for the country is that they fail to deliver on the rest of their promised agenda, as well.
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