Last month, President Bush and His Congress snuck a provision into a military authorization bill that would put an end to the good work of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

But on November 8, we awoke from the bad Bush dream, and now it looks like the Inspector General’s work will not only continue, but perhaps be expanded.

James Glanz reports in the New York Times today that House and Senate Democrats have introduced bills – with bipartisan support – to reverse the Bush administration’s most recent attempt to silence its critics. Sen. Russ Feingold said the proposals would stop the Inspector General’s office “from being prematurely shut down and… ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars for Iraq reconstruction efforts will not be vulnerable to even more waste, fraud and abuse.”

While the Office of the Inspector General doesn’t have the power and breadth of an independent war profiteering commission, it does represent a step in the right direction. And the Democrats’ quick action on this front is welcome news indeed.