Suddenly everybody is talking about executive orders: Those arcane documents President Clinton has been signing where he uses his pen to set national policy and essentially rule by fiat -- bypassing Congress and, say critics, running roughshod over our constitutional rights and freedoms.

The White House doesn't deny the charge. It's proud of the strategy of going over the heads of Congress.

"Stroke of the pen, law of the land, kinda cool," said former Clinton supporter Paul Begala.

But now, after several years of simply complaining or looking the other way, Congress is exerting itself. Two hearings are scheduled this week, both dealing with executive orders -- a topic that hasn't been studied by that body for 20 years.

Part of the credit appears due to the Liberty Study Committee, a newly formed group of 14 congressmen and eight legislators -- founded by Rep. Paul, R-Tex. -- who are using the Internet to carry the fight for American liberties and national sovereignty to the outer limits of cyberspace and into the halls and offices of Congress.

A recent success by the committee was the defeat of the National ID card, a proposal first reported in WorldNetDaily.

A House committee announced last week it would hold a hearing on legislation introduced by Paul, which would curb the president's ability to make laws by executive order. The Separation of Powers Restoration Act, HR 2655, will be heard tomorrow by the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, chaired by Rep. George Gekas, R-Penn. Six witnesses are scheduled to testify, including Reps. George Metcalf, R-Wash., and Bob Barr, R-Ga.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., issued the formal statement for Paul to speak on behalf of his legislation.

"The American public has grown increasingly weary of the use of executive orders, as presidents have used them to bypass Congress and legislate from the Oval Office," says Paul, describing his bill. "Presidents must be able to direct their employees, but this power must be closely confined by the laws which they are constitutionally and legislatively empowered to execute."

The unexpected scheduling came just days after WorldNetDaily publicized Paul's bill and the project by the Liberty Study Committee to provide Americans with a conduit for communicating, via the Internet, directly with their representatives and senators in Congress. The scheduling may have been prompted, at least in part, by the influx of e-mails to Congress asking representatives to support legislation that would curtail the president's ability to legislate by executive order.

This was made possible by a special website whereby constituents could contact their representatives quickly, with minimum effort.

Kent Snyder, executive director for the Liberty Study Committee, said it is "highly unusual" for a bill like HR 2566 to be scheduled so quickly.

"This is great news," he said. "The issue of executive orders is something that has not been discussed in a congressional setting for many years, so this is a first step. It's the first opportunity our side has had to present information in a legislative hearing -- and we'll be taking full advantage of that."

In his view, "The scheduling at this time proves our effort is working and shows the effectiveness of the Internet. We get our website in place, 4,000 messages come into Congress about executive orders, and we get two congressional hearings in one week -- one for a bill that nobody had heard about or paid attention to. We're doing something right."

But Snyder had a few words of caution. "Overall, I'm optimistic about the opportunity here. We will have a great chance to present the issue, then present the legislative solution which is HR 2655.

"But we are definitely aware that while it is an opportunity for us, it's also an opportunity for our foes to cut us off at the knees. The administration knows there is a an active political action group out there that's been sending letters and messages. There is a website that people who are active and informed are using.

"You can figure that our foes would do one of two things: Either dismiss the issue and the people and hope they'll go away, or take action -- cut us off at the knees. They could use this hearing to do that in some way. They may try to seize the chance to kill the legislation.

"That is why we are very much on alert to the possibility of our foes taking the opportunity to cut this issue down and shut it off."

The second hearing -- which is being heard today -- is an informational one by the Rules Committee's Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process, chaired by Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla.

"The purpose of the hearing is to review the process, guidelines and legal authorities of executive orders and assess their impact on the legislative process," said Goss. "Executive orders by this and any president can encroach on the lawmaking authority of the Congress."

Virginia attorney William J. Olson, one of several witnesses scheduled to testify at today's subcommittee hearing, is elated at the recent interest in the subject of presidential power grabbing. An article by Olson titled "Executive Orders and National Emergencies: Presidential Power Grab Nearly Unchecked," was publicized by WorldNetDaily in January. The article had appeared as an eight-page legal report of the Abraham Lincoln Foundation, a non-profit, public policy organization in Washington, D.C. The article and others is posted on Olson's website.

That article was the genesis of a 30-page in-depth study Olson and attorney Alan Woll, recently completed for the Cato Institute, a non-profit "think tank," in Washington."

Commenting on the hearing, Olson described the timing of events this week as "providential."

"There's the Cato Institute bringing out this study in the same week that two congressional subcommittees are looking at the very issue we wrote about. Can you believe it? There's been no interest in this since the mid-'70s, and now we have two hearings in one week."

Olson said the hearing he is testifying, "They'll be looking at the issue of separation of powers and the proper role of the executive branch.

"That's a nice counterpoint to the legislative hearing on Thursday," he noted. "One day we look at the touchstone of the Constitution and the next day we look at specific proposals to correct the relationship between the legislative and executive branches as it's become."

How great a role did the Internet -- and in particular the executiveorders.org website play in developing a climate for the hearings?

According to Jennifer Millerwise, media contact for Goss, the holding of such a hearing was not "spurred on by any outside influence," such as an e-mail campaign.

"We've been planning on having a hearing on executive orders since the beginning of this Congress," she said. "It was part of our oversight plan of the Rules Committee. It's taken a lot of research and work to come together and it happens to be the time we were prepared to have it."

The scheduling of the hearing tomorrow may have been a surprise to some of the Goss staffers.

"We found out the Judiciary Committee was having a hearing at the same time -- they sort of tripped over each other. But it was not a coordinated effort, though it happened to be a goal that both of the committees have had since the beginning of the year."

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