That system gave committee chairmen enormous control of their legislative turf, notwithstanding the wishes of their colleagues.
The notifications required to Congress before releasing the aid give committee leaders the power to put holds on delivery of the aid — something the administration sought to avoid by urging Mr. Netanyahu to intervene to keep the money flowing last month.
He then brilliantly scheduled a defense date against the committee's judgment, neglected to give committee members a draft of his thesis ahead of time, and basically did everything possible to set himself up to fail, which he did.
He said the bill had Democratic co-sponsors, and was in the public domain for a month, giving committee members plenty of time to read it before voting.
The motive behind the site is to give committees and research departments better access to public opinion.
Regardless, the election commission tends to give committees the benefit of the doubt on these kinds of questions, campaign finance lawyers said.
Duncan Smith says the DWP has given the committee its plans.
After parrying with Mr. Levin, Mr. Smith said KPMG had not given the committee the most recent documents.
Such bills had never even been given a committee hearing in the past.
