WHY DID CONGRESSMAN PETER WELCH (D-VT) SAY HE DOESN'T TRUST THE BUSH REGIME?

I hope you didn't get the idea that the only reason I went to DC last week was to harass Rahm Emanuel; that was a bonus. The night before the Rahm encounter, Pachacutec and I went to see Bob Weir play at a benefit for HeadCount, the outfit that registers voters at concerts. While Weir was signing hundreds of autographs we ran into Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT) who I was eager to congratulate for exposing the sneaky Bush Regime loophole for their contractor buddies.

It was awesome meeting Rep Welch; great guy... really friendly and straight forward. We had to explain to him that in order to be considered an incumbent in danger, one needed to have a viable opponent-- and that because the GOP can't drum up anyone to run against him, it probably means he isn't "in danger." But once we passed that hurdle it was all great and all about the Loophole. Today he followed through by sending me an update on the story.

Caught red-handed, the Regime is backing away. Today the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had a hearing to go over Rep. Welch's “Close the Contractor Fraud Loophole Act,” H.R. 5712, to require all contractors, regardless of where the work is performed, to be subject to fraud reporting requirements. Regime operatives were sent over to the Hill to swear that the loophole was a “bureaucratic mistake,” although Regime allies from the Professional Services Council (dirty lobbyists representing contractors like KBR, Halliburton, and Blackwater) testified against Welch’s legislation to close the loophole. 

Congressman Welch noted that "the Bush administration is denying conspiracy by pleading incompetence... When was the last time we saw the Bush administration reverse itself under pressure?  This shows just how important aggressive congressional oversight is to assure accountability and the protection of taxpayer dollars.”

Speaking for the vast majority of Americans, Welch stated clearly "I don’t trust this administration. I want taxpayer dollars to have the protection of the law." See, I told you he was cool. He also sent us this video to look at: