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Feingold Proposes Presidential Censure

Democratic Senator Russ Feingold said this week that he was considering an official resolution to censure President George W. Bush over his domestic spying program. Senator Feingold told ABC News in the United States over the weekend that he hoped a censure would prompt at least an apology from Mr. Bush. Senator Feingold is a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees, and predicted that any Republican senators will join him in trying to reprimand the president.

Only one president, Andrew Jackson, has ever been censured in American history in such a manner. And proving Feingold`s prediction, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, also speaking on the same network, said Feingold "is just wrong." Several Republican senators were expected to submit a bill that would put limits on the spy program, but also give it the force of law. Bush put the warrantless surveillance program in place after the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Senator Feingold says the NSA (National Security Agency) program violates privacy protections in the Constitution, while the White House and many Republicans in Congress say Bush has the power as commander-in-chief and the authority granted by Congress to use force in fighting terrorism - the White House also claims that only al-Qaeda connected persons have been listened to. However, much of the American public is concerned by the program anyway, and privacy issues are always fodder for debate in the U.S.