Collins Takes Another Swing at ‘Czars’

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is keeping her focus on the important issues: an amendment that would increase congressional control of “czars.”

Her amendment, which she first tried to attach to an appropriations bill without success, would also require their offices to submit periodic reports about their activities to congressional oversight committees. If they failed to comply, their departments could lose some federal dollars, she has previously suggested.

Collins makes an intellectually honest argument here — it’s all about government transparency. That doesn’t change the fact that something considered a normal part of presidential power one year ago has become a hot-button issue, basically because Glenn Beck said it should.