The Vice President's New Residence?

A group of Democrats made their case Thursday afternoon to cut all funding for the executive branch office of Vice President Dick Cheney on the floor of the House of Representatives. The move prompted a Republican Congressman to ask whether Cheney would get a 'Katrina trailer' in place of his official residence.

"I offer a simple amendment that bars the executive branch from being used to fund an office that does not exist in the executive branch, the Office of the Vice President," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, who introduced the amendment. "There have been 46 vice presidents in US history, and not one of them...ever claimed [that the vice president was not part of the executive branch]."

Pointing to a four-part series that ran in this week's Washington Post on Cheney's role in the presidency of George W. Bush, Emanuel assailed the vice president for having too much power.

"Rather than claiming that he wasn't part of the executive branch...it sounds like he is the executive branch," the Illinois Democrat said. "There is no Cheney branch of government...He been held unaccountable for six years, and now he wants to be held unaccountable in the historical record."

Emanuel's amendment moved to cut all funding to the Vice President's executive office, as well as the funds for his residence.

The latter half of the amendment prompted Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services which funds the White House, to ask where Cheney would live.

"Of course you're going to abolish the residence, and I assume you're going to get a Katrina trailer to provide for the vice president since we historically have provided housing, and you don't offer any substitute for the existing residence," Regula said.

Hey, what a great Idea! He could actually find out how some of the rest of us live...

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) also responded to Regula's warning.

"The gentleman from Ohio said be careful what you wish for. Well, here's what I wish for - a vice president of the United States who will not show contempt for the norms of democracy," the chairman of the Financial Services Committee said.

Right On.

"I don't come to this amendment lightly...you had said 'we may have a [Dem]vice president[..someday who oversteps his bounds..]'....Vice President Cheney is all of our vice president, he's not[just] yours," the Democratic Caucus chairman argued. "For every step of the way, he has chosen secrecy over sunshine, obstruction over accountability."

With limited members in the chamber, Rep. Emanuel's amendment appeared to be defeated by a voice vote. However, the bill is set to receive a recorded vote later in the day.

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