A House panel voted Wednesday to cite Karl Rove, formerly President Bush’s top aide, for contempt of Congress as its Senate counterpart explored punishment for alleged misdeeds by other administration officials.
But it was not clear that the Democrats controlling a lame-duck Congress will push their case for abuse of power against a lame-duck president beyond televised talk and vague threats just a few weeks shy of final adjournment. As a practical matter, lawmakers have little time and less willingness to follow through on most charges, let alone punishments, before Bush leaves office.
