WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- After an initially muted response, lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill Friday to hold the first of several hearings on the Sept. 11 commission findings.
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee will hold the first congressional hearing on the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations Friday with commission Chairman Thomas Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton scheduled to testify before the panel.
Last week, lawmakers called for hearing but stressed the need for restrained deliberations, even indicating action would likely be put off until after the election.
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, has also told Democratic representatives that caucus hearings on the report will be held on Aug. 10, a clear attempt to upstage attempts by House Republican leaders to call committee hearings on the matter next month.
The move is a sign of the increased politicization of the report, which is particularly critical of Congress's failures in its oversight of the U.S. intelligence community.
The Bush administration has stressed that it is reviewing the panel's recommendations and is already carrying out some of them.
The comments came under increasing pressure from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign which has made the Bush White House response to the terror threat a major theme this week, particularly at the Democratic National Convention.
Kerry called Tuesday for extending the commission investigation 18 months, past its August deadline for disbanding.
