Washington – Following repeated Democratic criticism of the Bush administration, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Friday gaveled a hearing to a close and walked out while Democrats continued to testify – but with their microphones shut off.
The hearing’s announced topic was the USA Patriot Act, which granted broad new powers to federal law enforcement after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Republicans presented several witnesses who supported the administration’s call for reauthorizing the legislation.
But when four witnesses handpicked by Democrats launched into denunciations of President Bush’s war on terror and the condition of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., showed his pique.
He urged witnesses to “wrap it up” and repeatedly told Democratic committee members that their time for questioning had expired.
“We ought to stick to the subject,” the chairman scolded. “The Patriot Act has nothing to do with Guantanamo Bay. The Patriot Act has nothing to do with enemy combatants. The Patriot Act has nothing to do with indefinite detentions.”
“Will the gentleman yield?” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, asked.
“No, I will not yield,” replied Sensenbrenner, 61, the heir to a paper fortune who is known for a brusque insistence on decorum. He completed his reproof of the witnesses and left the Rayburn House Office Building hearing room amid a cacophony of protests from Democrats seeking to be recognized.
Democrats charged that the episode was another example of Republicans abusing their control of Congress and trying to stifle dissent over Bush’s approach to counterterrorism.
At one point in the two-hour hearing, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., accused Amnesty International USA of endangering the lives of Americans in uniform by referring to the prison at Guantanamo Bays as a “gulag.”
Sensenbrenner refused to allow the Amnesty representative, Chip Pitts, to respond until Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., raised a “point of decency.” C-SPAN 2 continued televising the proceedings for six minutes after Sensenbrenner had left, with captions explaining the strange circumstances.
Democrats said the incident was reminiscent of a hearing in 2003 in which Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., summoned a Capitol Police officer during a heated exchange between members of the two parties.
