Congress Passes Clean Waterboarding Act - April Fools' Day, 2008 Vol. 9, No. 7

April Fools' Day, 2008 Vol. 9, No. 7:

Published: 04/01/2008

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Congress Passes Clean Waterboarding Act

You're reading the special April Fools' Day, 2008, edition of The Watcher.

The Bush administration and congressional leaders agreed to begin negotiations over the Clean Waterboarding Act of 2008 that Congress passed April 1. The key sticking point is the administration's objections to leaving the responsibility for implementing the act to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to Congress, EPA is the agency that sets U.S. water quality standards and is therefore the most appropriate agency to ensure that, if domestic sources are used for waterboarding, the water is "clean." The administration wants the Justice Department (DOJ) to have the authority to implement the act because DOJ has the legal responsibility for justifying other torture tactics, and the agency can oversee the use of waterboarding in international settings. Since President Bush has stopped short of threatening a veto, an agreement with Congress is expected soon.