Fetterman-Oz Debate Tonight: What to Watch and How to Read
Posted by Josh Sager on February 8, 2002
Fetterman-Oz Debate Tonight: What to Watch and How to Read
The Senate has released its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, to repeal much of the President’s anti-terrorism legislation. Some of the issues on which we can expect to hear from Senators and their staff, as well as on the floor of the Senate, are: (1) the extent to which the Bush administration is to be allowed to continue to detain terrorism suspects without a trial; (2) whether the President can take the money appropriated for the war on terrorism and, instead, use it to fund the nation’s immigration and education programs; and (3) whether the spending plan that the administration submitted to Congress on December 19, 2001, should be included in the final NDAA.
We are not certain what to expect in tonight’s Fetterman-Oz debate. One can hope that it will be an opportunity for Fetterman and Oz to give us an honest accounting of what they think the American people should look like, and how things stand right now–even though both parties have been unwilling to make that much headway on any of the major issues facing the nation. (Note: Today, January 26, Sen. Specter, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released his long-awaited report on the war on terrorism, entitled “The Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome of the American Soldier.”)
The debate will be held at 7:30 p.m. ET. Be on the lookout for this issue of the e-mail newsletter that will be sent to you automatically today. If you’d like to receive e-mail alerts when the issue comes out in the future, just add your name to the sign-up list at http://www.nytimes.com/email/lists/Fetterman-Oz-Debate-Tonight.html
