White House: Policy 'czars' won't testify

Washington Times

The White House has told Congress it will reject calls for many of President Obama's policy czars to testify before Congress - a decision senators said goes against the president's promises of transparency and openness and treads on Congress' constitutional mandate to investigate the administration's actions.

Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, said White House counsel Greg Craig told her in a meeting Wednesday that they will not make available any of the czars who work in the White House and don't have to go through Senate confirmation. She said he was "murky" on whether other czars outside of the White House would be allowed to come before Congress.

Miss Collins said that doesn't make sense when some of those czars are actually making policy or negotiating on behalf of Mr. Obama.

Transparency you can hope in.

I understand that presidents have had czars for a while now. However, the number of Czars each administration has had, or currently has, keeps growing at an alarming rate. This administration said it would be different and transparent. The fact is that it isn't.

While it is true presidents have had "czars" for many years, this is the first administration, to my knowledge, that refused to allow them to testify before congress. Something ain't right.

President Years served Czar Jobs Czars Appointed

Franklin Roosevelt 1933–1945 12 19
Harry Truman 1945–1953 6 6
Dwight Eisenhower 1953–1961 1 1
John F. Kennedy 1961-1963 ? ?
Lyndon Johnson 1963–1969 3 3
Richard Nixon 1969–1974 3 5
Gerald Ford 1974–1977 1 1
Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 2 3
Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 1 1
George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 2 3
Bill Clinton 1993–2001 7 10
George W. Bush 2001–2009 31 46
Barack Obama 2009– 32 35

Its disturbing how similar Bush and Obama are.....

Originally posted by kettlebellysmith
While it is true presidents have had "czars" for many years, this is the first administration, to my knowledge, that refused to allow them to testify before congress. Something ain't right.

uhmm...no, it is not:

www.csmonitor.com...

this pretty much explains why a president brings in these people...they bring in other perspectives that maybe weren't considered. bush, as well as every other president before him, has had these advisors. this is not new...and as the article says, very rarely are they allowed to testify.

jimmyx: 52 czars in 67 years (1933-2001) 81 czars the last 8 years..... (Bush and Obama) why is the last 2 presidents are using these outside the law czars the most happen to be the worst??? by worst i mean actively trying to rip the country apart...