In letters to key Republican senators, Reid put his foot down — again — on the idea of a special panel to dig into the Sept. 11 assault that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three diplomatic aides in Libya. A select committee would need a floor vote to be created, and Reid said he wouldn’t permit it.
“I refuse to allow the Senate to be used as a venue for baseless partisan attacks,” Reid wrote in the three-page letter, released Friday evening.
Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte have led the charge for a special committee in recent days. There also is support for the idea in the House. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) fired off a similar request to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) earlier this week, but Boehner said he didn’t believe a new panel was necessary.
Proponents of the select committee say having one panel to oversee the investigation would streamline the multiple probes currently being conducted by Congress. Committees that deal with intelligence, foreign affairs, homeland security and oversight are all looking into the attacks. Furthermore, the State Department also has established a review board to examine its handling of the Sept. 11 assault.
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees were briefed by former CIA Director David Petraeus on Capitol Hill earlier Friday, where he testified that the intelligence agency viewed the attack as a work of terrorism.
Reid, a Nevada Democrat, and many others on Capitol Hill argue that a new committee would unnecessarily duplicate ongoing investigations, and Reid said in his letter that he was concerned that a new, Watergate-style panel would “further politicize” the fallout over the attacks.
“The elections are over,” Reid wrote. “It is time to put an end to the partisan politicization of national security and begin working together to strengthen our efforts to dismantle and destroy the terrorist networks that threaten us.”
No comments:
Post a Comment