Even a half a victory and a close call must look pretty good these days to the beleaguered King George and his palace minions in their dealings with Congress.In three developments that set in sharper relief the growing disaffection of legislators in his own party (which can be translated as fears over their vulnerability in mid-term elections), the regent yesterday was handed a half a defeat, a stinging rebuke and survived a close call:
* Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee reached an agreement with the palace on proposed bills to impose oversights on the NSA's secret domestic spying program that should have existed in the first place while rejecting Democratic calls for a full investigation of the controversial program, which the king had approved on dubious constitutional grounds without consulting Congress. Details here.
* House Republican leaders said that they would introduce legislation scuttling the deal giving a Dubai company control of operations at six major U.S. port without awaiting the outcome of a belated palace review of whether there were security risks in the controversial deal. The king has threatened to veto any such bill. Details here.
* The House passed the revised USA Patriot Act on Tuesday by a 280-138 vote, just two more votes than needed under special rules requiring a two-thirds majority, and sent the bill to the king for his signature after it had been bottled up by members of his own party in the Senate for months over concerns that it infringed on personal liberties. Details here.
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