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Latest Answers http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/latest/%2A/6/%2A/%2A a view of answers sorted by date en I don’t know the answer to that. I was not in Congress at the time that that happened and I don’t know that anybody did. I don’t know how to answer that question. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/i-don%E2%80%99t-know-answer-.-i-was-not-congress-time-happened-and-i-don%E2%80%99t-know-anybody-did.-i-don%E2%80%99t http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/i-don%E2%80%99t-know-answer-.-i-was-not-congress-time-happened-and-i-don%E2%80%99t-know-anybody-did.-i-don%E2%80%99t#comments Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:46:29 -0500 amukherjee 1536 at http://askyourlawmaker.org That's a great question. I don't know the answer but I'd like to find out myself. That's a great question. The thing is he may have just been spewing poison and bitterness but it would be interesting to know what he had to say. If he had any remorse for all the people that had been killed and raped and maimed and tortured on his watch. But that would be a good question and I'll try to find that out. That's a good question. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3B%2526%2523039%3Bs-great-question.-i-don%2526%2523039%3Bt-know-answer-i%2526%2523039%3Bd-find-out-myself.-%2526%2523039%3Bs- http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3B%2526%2523039%3Bs-great-question.-i-don%2526%2523039%3Bt-know-answer-i%2526%2523039%3Bd-find-out-myself.-%2526%2523039%3Bs-#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:18:19 -0500 amukherjee 1544 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Number one, they’re bad enough that it’s not worth wasting our time impeaching them and if we were to have impeached them we should have done it five years ago.  To do it at the end of their term would be that we would get nothing else done and it wouldn’t mean anything. We impeached them through these reports like in the intelligence community phase I; phase II.  I mean everything that comes out, this morning’s papers, the political appointment of lawyers in the justice department. I mean they are impeached, just not legally. But in American History they are impeached. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3Bnumber-one%2C-they%2526amp%3Brsquo%3Bre-bad-enough-it%2526amp%3Brsquo%3Bs-not-worth-wasting-our-time- Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:28:35 -0500 Robin Wright 1411 at http://askyourlawmaker.org They produce a lot of potatoes over there, I know that. There is very little their soil is actually conducive for agriculture. They do have some irrigated ground down in the south around Basra but, you know, most of that was drained or flooded by Saddam Hussein. I don’t know if they’ve ever gotten that infrastructure back yet. Not a whole lot of agriculture takes place in Iraq. There’s a lot of desert there, so they don’t have the water infrastructure either, is the problem. I mean I couldn’t…I’m just not sure. I think they have the starch they have a lot of starch the only thing would be potatoes that I know of at least at this point but they certainly don’t do any corn or soybeans or anything like that or wheat which would be our traditional crops. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3Bthey-produce-lot-potatoes-over-there%2C-i-know-.-there-very-little-their-soil-actuall Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:14:58 -0500 Robin Wright 1386 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Well, the questioner is incorrect. I actually voted against extending the PA. On the initial vote right which was after 9/11, yes, I voted along with almost every Democrat and Republican in Congress to create the Patriot Act which had a limited term to it. When that term was expiring and it came up to be extended, I voted ‘no,’ because I didn’t think it was appropriate to extend it permanently. So that’s how I treated that issue. I think it was important for us as an institution to keep some time frames or some limitations on how that Act could be implemented. And that’s why I voted ‘no’ when it was up for- to be made permanent. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/well%2C-questioner-incorrect.-i-actually-voted-against-extending-pa.-initial-vote-right-which- Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:44:37 -0500 1173 at http://askyourlawmaker.org I used to be for six years the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, so it’s something that I take very seriously. Probably one particular area that Congress should always focus attention on is that the presidency, the executive branch, doesn’t overstep its bounds. The War Power Act is something that was passed some years ago to make sure that when a president is going to commit our troops militarily, overseas, that Congress has a role to play. It’s never actually been taken up to the Supreme Court but many have argued that presidents, whether it’s this one now or ones in the past, have overstepped their bounds and haven’t included Congress appropriately in decisions as to whether this country ought to go to war or not. Because it clearly says in our Constitution that it is Congress that is to declare war, and how does that apply in Iraq or Afghanistan? What I’m essentially saying is it is Congress’s responsibility to uphold its powers under the Constitution and one of those powers is whether we have a war or not, whether it’s declared or not. Most Congresses in the past really haven’t been willing to push that as far as it needs to go to get a determination, so it may very well need to go to the Supreme Court. REPORTER: One other part of this is signing statements. The expanded use of signing statements in some people’s view to get around the letter of the bills that Congress sends him and that he signs. Do you have a concern about them? CHABOT: I have a concern to the extent that if a president either this one or one in thefuture might abuse that technique than I think it is up to Congress to dispute this and take it to the courts and have a determination made. I have not really seen evidence that President Bush has abused the process, although there are some Members of Congress who would argue he has. And if they believe that there is a process for them to take that up. Thus far they haven’t really been able to go to the mat on that issue. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/i-used-be-six-years-chairman-subcommittee-constitution%2C-so-it%E2%80%99s-something-i-take-very-seriou Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:21:57 -0500 1154 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Well I don't think that Big Brother is here in the sense that we are still able to protect people's civil liberties. However, I will say that under the Bush administration there has been an effort by the president and others to erode those civil liberties to really blur the line. We've seen this with the electronic surveillance program where they want to take the judiciary out of the process. Our system is premised on having some independent body stand between the powers of the federal government, the police powers, and the individual citizen. And the Bush administration is one to tear that wall down. And what the democrats have said is, number one, we need to protect our national security, but we can do it in a way that's consistent with the constitution and the freedoms guaranteed American citizens under the constitution. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/well-i-don%2526%2523039%3Bt-think-big-brother-here-sense-we-are-still-able-protect-people%2526%2523039%3Bs-civil Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:21:32 -0600 1080 at http://askyourlawmaker.org I think the Bush Administration has been more secretive than any administration in history even more than the Nixon Administration. They set up road blocks even before September eleventh 2001 to try to keep their operations away from the Congress and the American people, which I think is a serious mistake. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/i-think-bush-administration-has-been-more-secretive-any-administration-history-%C2%96-even-more-n Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:47:36 -0600 Melinda 724 at http://askyourlawmaker.org