House Judiciary Chair Sensenbrenner: Bush Double-Crossed Me
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Sensenbrenner is shrill:
Sensenbrenner: "[Bush] turned his back on provisions of the House-passed bill, a lot of which we were requested to put in the bill by the White House," Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., angrily told reporters in a conference call. "That was last fall when we were drafting the bill, and now the president appears not to be interested in it at all.".... He said it was the White House that had requested two controversial felony provisions in the bill the House passed last winter.
"We worked very closely with White House in the fall in putting together the border security bill that the House passed," he said. "... What we heard in November and December, he seems to be going in the opposite direction in May. That is really at the crux of this irritation," he said of Bush.... "I was very disappointed in the president's speech," Sensenbrenner said. "I think he doesn't get it."...
Sensenbrenner did not attend a closed-door meeting between Bush political adviser Karl Rove and House Republicans, but said that some members complained to him that Rove didn't stay around for many questions or hear what lawmakers had to say. "The overwhelming majority of those that I talked to who were at the conference believe that he dissed the House Republicans," Sensenbrenner said.
