“The whole issue of Congressional oversight of how federal monies are spent comes into play. The federal government found some way to pay for this without asking Congress for it.”
— Ralph Carter

Congressional input lacks from plan
Shadow government needs oversight from legislative branch
By Sam Eaton
Staff Reporter

The Bush Administration’s recent announcement of a secret government came prior to proper approval from the legislative branch, said Ralph Carter, a political science professor.

“The whole issue of Congressional oversight of how federal monies are spent comes into play,” Carter said. “The federal government found some way to pay for this without asking Congress for it.”

Carter

The idea of a “shadow government” is to keep the government functioning in the event of terrorism that involves weapons of mass destruction. High ranking government officials would be at an undisclosed location where they could run the country until danger subsided.

The idea of utilizing a “shadow government” is nothing new, but actually using a secret bunker outside of the capital would be, Carter said.

“It’s a hold over from the Cold War,” Carter said. “We went through this before when we worried about the Soviets nuking Washington.”

Controversy arose March 5 when some members of Congress were upset they hadn’t been briefed on the shadow government idea. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., who serves as minority leader, said he wasn’t aware of the session that day when other Congress members were told about the plan for the first time, according to The Associated Press.

Carter said he felt the leaders of Congress should have been informed by the executive branch before the “shadow government” was approved.

“Congress is the protector of the nation’s purse strings,” Carter said. “If Congress didn’t know about this, that means Congress was approving money for something they didn’t know anything about.”

Carter said pride was another reason the Congress was upset about not being informed.

“It’s ego driven,” Carter said. “Some key Congressional members are offended that something this major could be going on and they weren’t briefed over it.”

The Associated Press reported that White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the Bush Administration has tried to keep the “shadow government” as secretive as possible to avoid a repeat of what happened in Sulfer Springs, W.Va.. An underground bunker that was built during the Cold War wasn’t kept secret, and is now a tourist attraction at Sulfer Springs’ Greenbrier Resort.

Sam Eaton
s.m.eaton@student.tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002