Clinton power vs. Net power

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."

Selected related stories:

Can Internet curb Clinton power?

Strange bedfellows battle national ID

Clinton's latest EO -- Invasive species

Clinton's 12 'national emergencies'