when i became attor i into you that grappling with the violent crime that had surged during the pandemicd be one of the most urgent challenges the justice department would face. i knew well the scourge of violent crime. i was a drugs and guns prosecutor during the crack wars of the late 1980's and early 1990's and then i was a supervisor of prosecutors and agents in the criminal division at the justice department. i knew that among the most powerful tools the department has to confront violent crime would be our partnerships. our partnerships among federal law enforcement agencies assisting in the fight against violent crime, our partnerships with the state and local law enforcement agencies that protect our local every day and our partnerships with the communities that we all serve. so we have spent the last three years pouring every available resource into strengthening those partnerships. we have expanded access to the range of advanced technological tools here at a.t.f., including ballistics analysis, firearm tracing and crime gun intelligence centers as steve just recounted. we've w

earlier this month we voted to hold attor contempt ofce informed speaker mike johnson that they would not prosecute the a.g. for this this response while expected precedent. if the simply ignore congress without any consequences it threatens the very function and foundation of our democratic process. when an individual refuses to comply with congress's request we are left with contempt. or land executive branch for enforcement which clearly is not case. the founding their freedoms, to stand against tyranny ando combat an all-powerful executive branch. inherent contempt is their constitutional authority to hold directly to this try individuals w crucial tool that ensures responsibilities independently of the house rules manual 118th congress jefferson's manual you can find inhere contempt mentioned in pages 141 pier 157. inherent contempt has than 100 times since 1795 in a pub by the supreme court of the united ofow the department of justice and attorney general garland to dictate whether or not a cong risk becoming subordinate to the executive branch and that cannot happen. this is un