the welfare of the american people. that is what was at stake today. when i caving in to the most -- the supreme court has stood by more than 70 years of legal precedent to ensure that some 32 million americans now have access to health insurance to ensure that 42,000 americans will no longer die every year for lack of health insurance and ensure that the other benefits of the affordable health care act to ensure that people can no longer be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions. this is a good bill, it is a good start. we have more to do. the supreme court said today that despite the reactionary nature of the courts, the affordable care act is so clearly constitutional that it upheld it. the supreme court did not disgrace itself today and we can go on from here to legislate for the better welfare of the american people.

>> we're going to have right now, dr. pollack. thank you. >> good morning. i'm the executive director of families, u.s.a., the national organization for health care consumers. today is a holiday, and for america's families. a mean -- a hello lee a moment. tens of millions of people are going to get help so that insurance is affordable. it means insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, like children with asthma and diabetes. it means insurance companies can no longer set an artificial cap i and what they're willing to pay out when somebody has a catastrophic illness or an accident.

it means that women will no longer be discriminated against and have to pay higher premiums. it means that small businesses will get tax credits so they can afford to provide health coverage for their workers. and bottom line, tens of millions of people will get health coverage for the first time. this is an extraordinary moment and the effort to defeat the affordable care act has been stopped in its tracks. now we get on with the task of implementing health reform in every state all across the country. this is truly a moment for america's families. health reform is moving forward. >> i am from the ninth

congressional district. imagine today, the burden of worrying that is now lifted from the shoulders of millions and millions of americans. well lager under -- no longer will families have to worry that someone will have a catastrophic illness and not only will they have to do with the illness but the whole family may go bankrupt because of it. that will not happen because of obamacare. no longer with -- will a woman with breast cancer or men with prostate cancer worry that she will not have access or he will not have access to the health care they need. there will have access to health care. this is such a great decision. we congratulate chief justice roberts and the majority of the court for deciding that the law of the land is that health care, finally, in the united states of america, is a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it. thank you. >> and now, we have the chair of the women's caucus.

>> brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. today is a day we have been waiting on for over a century in this country. the supreme court's decision to uphold obamacare, and i said very broadly today, is especially important for women and children, the most vulnerable among americans. women are twice as likely as a man to be dependent upon their spouses for health care insurance. children who are covered until they're 26 are dependent upon their parents for health care. as the co-chair of the women's caucus, i am especially in

celebrating this decision today. for women and children in the united states. i hope that in november, when will appreciate -- women will appreciate the work and the sacrifice that democrats have made to bring this bill forward to the supreme court. thank you. >> flore richardson of california. >> i would like to focus on two points. in 1968, at six years old, laura richardson from california, i wanted to become a member of congress. i thought there were laws that were not fair. i want to say to chief justice roberts for showing for the first time in a long time that government can work if we focus on the fact that we do what is right.

in my district, we have people who cannot afford to have health care. we have young people who, due to no fault of their own, can i get a job and therefore do not have coverage. today, chief justice roberts and the other rubber -- members of this court said we are going to get back to doing things right. my second point for president obama. i remember many of my colleagues here just over a year ago, we walked across the street, we were spat on, we were carlstadt for setting up for people. and today, now, we're able to say that the right thing was done, let's get about doing more work and stop the politics and help the american people. thank you. >> and former chair of the progressive caucus. >> thank you.

today, the supreme court affirmed the will of the american people. but you know, the struggle is not over. you can hear that the republicans are going to try to dismantle step-by-step by step everything that is in this legislation, and everything that the american people stand for. but instead, we now can strengthen this act. we can at healthcare for all -- add health care for opri we can make sure there is competition to make sure that we have medicare for everybody. and when we do that, nobody will worry ever again about whether they have health care in the united states of america. thank you, supreme court. thank you, progressive caucus, thank you, progressive community. thank you, democrats.

we all made this happen. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> thank you for coming out. >> i represent the people of new jersey. would have extended human rights to every person. to provide access to excellent health care for every woman, a child, every man, is part of the progress. today the supreme court has allowed the progress to continue. we have work to do. we should not be continuing this circus that we see around this. we should be getting to the work to make sure we extend

affordable, excellent health care to every person in america. the supreme court's decision makes that possible. >> thank you. >> today the supreme court has upheld the affordable health care act. we took a lot of hits on behalf of the american people. we have had a lot of noise from the right. but it is the law of the land. the people have one. -- have won. will be a stronger and more competitive country. i want to say that i am proud of the work he has done to expand access and taking our nation closer. i want to thank our partners who have made this day possible. i applaud the administration and secretary sibelius' for their commitment to implementing the law.

a look forward to working with them to make sure that the provisions remain and are fully implemented. we will work with the same partners to make sure that no state denies any of their citizens the right to medicate the we provide in this bill. it is time to do the work of the people. we did pass our bills. we need to take care of the people we were elected to serve. [applause] >> is peter walsh still here? ok. >> thank you very much. i represent the first congressional district of maine. i am proud to stand up here with my colleagues celebrating this great victory.

the extreme right-wing cannot draw up the supreme court. the supreme court decided to go with the american people and against the insurance companies. this decision means that for all of those people who have been having sleepless nights and wondering if their children up to 26 can stay on their insurance coverage, or if there pre-existing conditions will be covered. they do not have to worry any more. thanks to the leadership of our president, nancy pelosi, democrats across the country, this law is standing. we will continue to fight for its improvement. i am proud to stand with my colleagues today. for once, i am proud of the u.s. supreme court. [cheers and applause] >> progressive leader.

[applause] >> oh, my god. i am brought to tears today. i want to thank everyone who is standing here. many of us come from the poorest districts in the land. i come from one of the poorest districts in america. i stand here today in the name of the sick laying in the hospital beds, young women to try to get young children immunized, seniors -- as tender gratified for all of those hours and town hall meetings. as saying that there was no care or humanitarianism in this country. this it need to be taken care of.

i stand in a place where i could not be on the day of the emancipation proclamation when slaves were freed. i could not be there, but my ancestors could tell me what it meant to be free. today i stand on the steps of the supreme court, feeling free them for those who lay sick in their beds. god is present for us. i am grateful for the supreme court who recognized above the shouting to uphold the constitution that allowed to tax even the poorest, and if we had undermined the constitutional structure, the government would not exist. i come we stand your today feeling a sense that my pain has been overcome.

my mother who died as a vocational nurse, she lived with a sick is that was chronic, if we did not have universal medicare for those over the age of 65, they would lay dead in their graves even before they could see their grandchildren. i stand your today by saying, america is a great country. -- i stand here today by saying, america is a great country. we believe in the humanity of all. thank you got. thank you america. i thank the constitution. thank you to the supreme court. i walk away in dignity. oh, yes! [cheers and applause] >> our last speaker will be clark from michigan.

>> everyone, i represent the city of detroit. this ruling is simple. healthcare is a right for all americans. when more people have health insurance, health insurance is affordable for everyone. it makes financial sense. we needed this mandate to make insurance affordable for even the sickest americans. healthy amicans could buy health insurance. more of us have health insurance. thank you. >> thank you, everyone. this has been a progressive caucus. will keep fighting and moving. take good care. >> four more years. >> everyone, let's thank our leader. [cheers and applause] >> members of the house to party

caucus were also in front of the supreme court on thursday. it was led by the former gop candidate. this is 10 minutes. >> thank you all for coming. my name is michele bachmann. i am a member of contests. i represent minnesota. i heard the decision come down. -- i am a member of congress. others are making their way over from the capital. we will begin this morning with the brief reaction. sandy, it is yourself and your district. >> hello. i am from florida 24th district. i am disappointed, but i resolve to repeal this legislation. this has done nothing more than

raise your health care costs. it puts government between you and your doctors. it is impeding our businesses from hiring more people. this legislation must be repealed. i am committed to that. >> good morning. i am proud to be here with michele bachmann and sandy. i will tell you, at the end of the day, our minds are on solving our problems. it was weak, the people -- it was we, the people. we need to demand that the government repeals this law. my commitment to you and to the people is that i will continue to fight and insurer that we will appeal this damaging

legislation that knows no limit to the federal government cost power. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much. i am from texas. i think just had it exactly right. the final check of the power of the government is the people. if you object to this law, of its continuing overreach, it is up to you to elect the people to put a stop to it. people let their representatives you have to hear. people throughout this country are committed to less taxes and more freedom. it is up to each and every one of you in november to go out and exercise your right to vote.

say no to laws like this. it is an invasion of the doctor-patient relationship. there is a new tax that was this year's created by the supreme court. thank you. >> a congressman. >> i am disappointed by the supreme court today. they said the end of the demand was not unconstitutional -- they said the individual mandate was not unconstitutional according to the clause. president obama broke his word to the american people. he has said that this was not pay tax. the supreme court confirmed that this is a tax, and massive increase tax on american families. it is a very people he said he would not tax. it confirms that. i am more resolve to go back to work to repeal this entire law.

we will have hearings starting next week to repeal this law. we need to fix the things that are broken. obamacare promise to lower health care costs. it has been making problems worse. we need to fix the problems in health care. we need to lower costs. obamacare made the worst. the u.s. supreme court had their say. the american people will have their say on the first tuesday in november. [cheers and applause] >> support sunglasses for dogs. >> thank you. i am from florida. it has been said that the power to tax as a power to destroy. a lot of destruction was done by this decision.

i am concerned about two things. first, the impact on our senior citizens. this is a devastating blow to american seniors. it will have have 1 trillion dollars cut from medicaid. -- medicare. they will also limit the choices of our seniors. vote for care. the second thing, as a business person, this is a death knell for businesses in this country. small businesses have been reeling from the thought of is going into a effect. today's decision will do more to hurt our economy than anything we can do in washington. this is a bad day for businesses. it is a bad day for senior citizens. it is a bad day for america.

congress needs to appeal this now. [cheers and applause] >> i want to thank the members who are only a small sample of the tea party in the congress. we have a large contingent. they are all engaged in many things. there are out reacting to this unprecedent decision. there are two things we want to say. as a result of the president postilion dollars stimulus program and of obamacare, all across the u.s., you saw americans attending town hall meetings other members of congress. that was august and may 2009. they stood up. they held their members of congress and senators

accountable for what happened with obamacare. people were not happy. we saw in 2010 people came to the ballot box. we saw nancy pelosi lose as a direct result. [cheers and applause] and because of that, we saw a new majority in the contest that did pass a repeal of obamacare. members of the tea party , as did vote to repeal obamacare. -- tea party caucus did vote to repeal obamacare. we need to complete the job in the senate and in the white house. we do not have a choice. our legal remedy has now concluded in the supreme court. it is inexplicable, this decision.

there is no foundation for upholding the individual mandate. this court has ruled today. this has met a turning point in american history. it is the expansion of government power over our liberties and even our very lives. for the first time in the history of the country, we need everyone of you -- and they will force every one of you to purchase products just because you breathe. next, dr. john flemming. [applause] >> it is hard to follow michele bachmann.

she is doing a wonderful job for us. she is a strong conservative. my name is john fleming. i represent 4th district in the louisiana. i have provided health care benefits. i have an understanding of this. wayne obamacare -- we know obamacare has taken away consumer choices. it is intriguing in the relationship between you and your doctor.

-- it is intruding in the relationship between you and your doctor. it said it is not the supreme court's job to fix the mistakes made by congress. it is up to the people who elect the members of congress and the president to decide what kind of policy you want in this nation. and such, it is our responsibility as members of congress to repeal obamacare. we will pull it out by its roots. we intend to do that. do we have support for that? anyone in for that? [cheers and applause] remember, if you are going to get more people covered under health care, you need to make it affordable and attractive.

you cannot force it through the law. we want more consumer choices and not more government mandates to micromanage every day of your lives. there is a difference between health care coverage and access to health care. there are countries around the world that have been hard to% health care coverage. -- that have 100% health care coverage even our neighbor to the north, canada, and even great britain, to have 100% coverage, but i have to wait in line. that is not a value that we won in america. we thank you everyone for coming out. in the second week of july, the

we will be voting again to repeal it. you know what to do on november 6. >> the heritage foundation will host a forum tomorrow morning on the decision to uphold the constitutionality of the health care a lot. because the attorney general air calder declines to turn over documents related to the gun trafficking investigation, the house voted to hold the attorney general in contempt of congress. we will hear his response after the vote. after that, we will be air coverage of the supreme court decision today.

the u.s. house of representatives has held eric holder in co throughout 18 nths of investigation, throug countless areas of negotiations in order to get the minimum material necessary to find out the facts behind fast and furious and the murder of brian -- border patrol agent brian terry, i always believed that in time we would reach an accommodation sufficient to get the information needed for the american people while at the same time preserving the ongoing criminal investigation.

i'm proud to say that our committee has maintained the ability for the justi department to continue their ongoing prosecutions, neither the majority nor minority has allowed any material to become publ that could compromise that. however, the facts remainast and furious, the department of justice permitted sale of more than 2,000 weapons that fell into the hands of the mexican drug cartels was both reckless and inexcusable, and it clearly was known by people both career professionals and political appointees from the lowliest member on the ground in phoenix to high ranking officials in the department of justice. but that's not what we are here for today. today we are here on a very narrow contempt, one that the speaker of the house in his wisd and assistance has helped us to fashion. let it be clear we still have

unanswered questions on a myriad of areas related to operation fast and furious, but today we are only here to determine over the 10 months from the time in which the american people and the congress of the united states was lied to, given false -- literally the reverse statement that no guns were allowed to walk. during that 10 months before the justice department finally owned up and recognized that they had to come clean, that in fact fast and furious was all about gunwalking. the department of justice maintained a series of documents, many of these documents are believed to be communications between and with the very individuals at the heart of the decision to go forward with fast and furious. therefore we have focused our limited contempt on those documents. if our committee is able to receive the documents in totality that show whorought about the dishonest at the same time to ngress and who

covered it up for 10 months, we believe that will allow us to backtrack to the inviduals who ultimately believed in fast and furious, facilitated fast and furious, and ultimately may be responsible for brian terry's dth. i yield myself an additional 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: i won't read everything that's in my opening statement. i will read just one more thing. these words were said on the house floor in 2008. when speaker pelosi supported contempt. she said, congress has a responsibility of oversight of the executive branch. i know that members on both sides of the aisle take the responsibility very seriously. oversight is an institutional obligation to ensure against abuse of power, subpoena authority is a vital tool of that oversight. speakepelosi, 2008. i reserve the balance of my time. the eaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland.

mr. cummings: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from maryland is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. cummings: today, mr. speaker, is a historic day in many ways. on the one hand in a landmark decision by chief justice john roberts, the supreme court upheld the health care bill ensuring that millions of american families will finally have access to effective and affordable health care. on the other hand, the republican leaders of the house are about to plunge into the history books as some of the most extreme and partisan ever. rather than working together in a bipartisan way to create jobs and help our nation's economic recovery, they are rushing to the floor under emergency procedures with a contempt resolution that is riddledle with errors and motivated by partisan politics. when i first heard about the allegations of gunwalking at a.t.f., i was outraged.

i fully supported our committee's goals of finding out how it started, how it was used, and how it may have contributed to the death of borderatrol agent brian terry. i made a personal commitment which i will keep to the terry family to conduct a responsible and thorough inquiry. but today's contempt vote is a culmination of one of the most highly politicized and reckless congressional investigations in decades. after receiving thousands of pages of documents from the justice department, conducting two dozen transcribed interviews, and hearing testimony from the attorney general nine times, here are the facts. first, the committee has obtained no evidence that the attorney general authorized, condoned, or knew about gunwalking. chairman issa admitted this just yesterday before theules committee. we have seen no evidence that the attney general lied to congress or engaged in a

cover-up. we have seen no evidence that the white house had anything to do with the gunwalking operations. chairman issa admitted this on "fox news sunday" this past weekend. democric -- democrats wanted a real investigation. chairman issa refused 10 different requests to hold a hearing where the director of a.t.f., the agency that ran these misguided operations. let me say that again. during this entire investigation no member of the house has been able to pose a single question to the head of a.t.f. at a public hearing. how could you have a credible investigation of gunwalking at a.t.f. and never hold a single hearing with the leadership of the agency in charge? the answer is, you can't. based on the documents we know -- we now know, the gunwalking in fact started in 2006. yesterday chairman issa said this aut the misguided

operations during the bush administration and i quote, they were allle failures, end of quote. the committee has obtained documentary evidence that former attorney general mccasey was personally briefed on these botched interdiction efforts during his tenure and that he was told they would be expanded. chairman issa refused to call mr. mccasey for a hearing or even for a private meeting. during our committee's year and a half investigation, the chairman refused every single democratic request for witness. instead of taking any of these reasonable steps as part of a credible and evenhanded investigation to determine the facts, house republican leaders rushed this resolution to the floor only one week after it was voted out of committee. in contrast, during the last coress, house leaders continued to negotiate for six

months to try to avoid contempt in the united states attorney's investigation. mr. speaker, some of my colleagues on the other side seem almost giddy about today's vote. after turning this investigation into an election year witch-hunt, they somehow convinced the speaker to take it to the floor. and they are finally about to get the prize they have been seeking for more than a year, holding the attorney general of the united states of america in contempt. they may view today's vote as a success, but in reality it is a sad failure, a failure of our leadership, a failure of our constitutional obligations, and a failure of our responsibilities to the american people. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from virginia. -- california. million issa: the gentleman from -- i'll leave his statement where it lay.

i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, the distinguished congressman meehan, a former u.s. attorney in that district. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. meehan: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, this is not about politics. though there are some if they want to suggest that it is because of you yell at it long enough it will deflect the truth of the matter. it's not about gotcha. as a former prosecutor myself. the attorney general personifies the pursuit of juste and i want to see him do well, but it is about accountability. agent brian terry is dead, protecting our border, and 5 3 days later the -- 563 days later the terry family still does not know why it occurred. what they do know is that the very agency that initiated fast and furious, the department of

justice, under attorney general eric holder, called the operation fatally flawed and then the wagons got circled. it's about the separation of powers. as uncomfortab as it may be at times, it's a fundamental tenet and strength of our democracy that congress is given not just the power but the responsibility to exercise its duty -- oversight over the executive, especially en by their own admission things have gone glaringly wrong. because the justice department has stubbornly resisted the tempt inquiries of congress, over operation fast and furious, there's so much we do not know. but because whistle blowers within the department of justice were outraged mischaracterizations, there is a great deal that we do know. what we do know is that we have

been dealing with a systematic effort to deflect attention away from the decisions and determinations that were made at the highest levels of the department of justice where information was brought directly to individuals at the highest leve of the department of justice, information that was contained in wiretap affidavit that laid out in explicit detail the matters related to fast and furious. mr. speaker, there is a famous quotation in the department of justice about the responsibility of the attorney general not being to win cases but to assure that justice is pursued and retained. mr. speaker, it is incumbent and a responsibility on this house to do what is required to do in this circumstance and to support the request that we be given the documents to obtain the facts that will allow us to

draw the conclusions which i believe allow us to get to the bottom of this. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, i yield to the distinguished gentleman from illinois, mr. quigley, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. mr. quigley: thank you, mr. speaker. those bringing this contempt vote say they want to talk about gunwalking and how to stop it. ok, let's have that conversation. they say they want to stop gun trafficking and keep our a.t.f. agents safe. well, then, let's properly fund the a.t.f. which is the same number of agents since 1970. they say they want to stop gun trafficking. then appoint a permanent a.t.f. director which the agency hasn't had in six years. they say they want to stop gun trafficking, let's pass some laws which actually deter straw purchasers. straw purchasers concurrently buy thousands of ak-47's, lie on their paperwork, and the penalty is equivalent to a moving violation. they say they nt to stop gun

trafficking, let's give the agents what they have been asking for, the ability to track multiple purchases of long guns. these long guns include ak-47's, assault weapons, and 50 caliber semiautomatic sniper rifles, the weapons of choice for international drug cartels. they say they want to stop gun trafficking, let's close the gun show loophole which currently allows anyone to purchase any gun they want without a background check. felons, domestic violence abusers, those with severe mental illness, even tse on the terrorist watch list can currently walk into a gun show and purchase any gun they want. 2,000 guns were allowed to walk to mexico, but the truth is tens of thousand of guns a cross our border every year because of those lax gun laws. those bnging this contempt vote don't want to have this conversation and aren't serious about stopping gun trafficking. they simply want to embarrass

the administration, even though the committee's 16-month investigation found no evidence the attorney general knew abt gunwalking, even though there is no evidence the white house involvement in gunwalking, all of which chairman issa admitted on national tv last week. so if we are going to talk about gun trafficking, let's be clear, this is about politics not safety. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. immigration and customs enforcement mr. speaker, the -- the gentleman from texas. mr. issa: mr. speaker, this is the refusal of turning over documents, not whether or not it was his lieutenants or he who was involved in fast and furious. with that i'd like to recognize the distinguished former chairman of the judiciary committee, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. sensenbrenner, for two minutes. thspeaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. sensenbrenner: mr. speaker, this isn't about politics. this is about th constitution. and it's about congress' map

date to do oversight -- mandate to do oversight over both executive and judicial branches of government. the president is asserting executive privilege to attempt to shield these documents. and he is relying on a type of primpling called the deliberative process privilege. however, that privilege disappears when congress' investigating evidence of wrongdoing. and in 1997 the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit wrote in part, moreover, the privilege disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe that government misconduct has occurred. in another case, it was decided by the first circuit in 1995, it says that the grounds that shielding internal government deliberations inhis context does not serve the public interest in honest, effective government. there has been misconduct that's already a matter

public record in two instances. the justice department wrote senator grassley in january of 2011 saying that the a.t.f. sanction gunwalking across the border was false and it took th ne months to retract that letter. so they also led congress, and then nine months later they said, oops. maybe he with did mislead congress and we'll withdraw the letter. and in may, 2011, the attorney general testified before the judiciary committee that he first heard of operation fast and furious a few weeks before the hearing. over s months later, he conceded that he should have said a few months. now, this very clearly shows that congress has got the proliferation to get the -- to the bottom of this, and that the assertion of the executive privilege by the president and

the attorney general is not based in law. weught to go ahead and do our job and do our oversight, and it's too bad that the justice department has decided to try to obstruct congress' ability to do it. pass the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i yield to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. connolly: the 112th congress is the first in history to hold a cabinet member in contempt. when they say it's not about politics, you can be sure it's about politics. the majority's irresponsible and unprecedented contempt vote brings dishonor to this house which has been so clouded in judgment, that it's incapable of addressing a fundamental separation of powers conflict in a serious and fair fashion.

in refusing to engage in good faith negotiations with the department of justice and the attorney general, the majority has exposed this contempt citation for what it really is, an extraordinarily shameful political witch-hunt aimed at trashing an honorable man. it's unacceptable. we're rushing to the floor, this unprecedented contempt resolution. yesterday, ranking member cummings sent a letter to the speaker highlighting 100 errors, omissions, mischaracterizations of fact contained in the contempt citation itself. rushed out of our committee last week on a party line vote. although some of the contempt citations flaws are simply misleading, others have significant legal deficiencies and they contain factual errors that call into question the contempt citation itself. for example, on pages 4 and 5, the charges senior officials at the department of justice headquarters ultimately approved and authorized operation fast and furious. hover, the consempt citation

-- idenceention the committee contempt citation fails to mention the committee hasn't covered no evidence. on pages 16, 17, 19, 0, 21, 22, 25, 26 and 27, the contempt citation with not producing a series of document that the chairman only recently acknowledged, the department is prohibited by law from providing due the potential impact on ongoing prosecutions. in fact -- i would ask the gentleman for an extra 20 seconds. mr. cummings: i yield the gentleman 20 seconds. mr. connolly: you had to his own subpoena to delete documents in this own category but his contempt citation has not caught up with his mos recent version of his subpoena. clearly the majority has not taken the necessary time to properly weigh this very serious charge. regrettably, this deeply flawed

and shoddy contempt citation is emblem attic of the majority's reckless rush to judgment throughout this process. i have been deeply troubled of some of the very hostile questioning and the utter and complete lack of respect given to the attorney general of the united states. when this chapter of congressional history is written, it will be not a brave shining moment. it will be seen for what it is, a craven, crass, partisan move that brings dishonor to this body, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i now yield one minute to the very distinguished and very always participating member of the committee from new york, ms. buerkle. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recoized for one minute. ms. buerkle: i thank the gentleman foris steadfast work on behalf of truth and trying to get to the bottom of fast and furious. mr. speaker, syracuse, new york, in the heart of my district, is roughly 2,500

miles from rico rico, arizona, where border patrol agent brian terry was tragically shot and killed by an ak-47 assault rifle that the united states knowingly allowed into the hands of a suspected gun trafficker. yet, every time i'm home, it is the issue first and foremost on the mind of my constituents. i listen to their calls, to their emails and our town halls. they want to know what happened, whknew what and when did they know it. they ask me, they ask washington, they ask the department of justice, how could the united states government, the pillar of hope and freedom, allow for one of their own representatives, one of their own good guys to be so helplessly gunned down by a suspected criminal? mr. speaker, i'm embarrassed to say after 56 days i still

don't have -- 562 days i still don't have an answer for them. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. ms. buerkle: may i have one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 10 seconds. ms. buerkle: is this the hope that the americans were supposed to believe in? out of the supposedly mo transparent government in the history of our nation? it is my hope, mr. speaker, that the district court judge will see through the attorney neral's contempt of congress after it is passed in the house today. however, we must not be mistaken, even if the attorney general is prosecuted, the case is not closed. we must not forget that guns leaked through this program -- the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. mr. issa: i yield the gentlelady 10 seconds. ms. buerkle: mr. speaker, after today's vote we must continue our effort to find more answers than there are questions

relating to this administration's catastrophic fast and furious. the american people deserve the answer and the family of border patrol agent brian terry as well. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: thank you very much. i yield the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, two minutes, a member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from msouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. clay: mr. speaker, as a member of the oversight mmittee, i know that the gunwalking operations conducted by the a.t.f. under both the previous and current administrations were absolutely wrong. but the leadership of this house is focused on shameful election-year political posturing instead of the real issue. the justice department long ago ended the practice of allowing these guns to walk across the border, putting communities in

mexico at great risk, but the same people who have relentlessly pursued a baseless partisan attack on attorney general holder and the president have ignored the desperate pleas of the mexican government. to strengthen american gun laws and curb trafficking that gave rise to the strategy in the first place. but focusg in on the real issue would take time away from them playing politics with the oversight authority. those on the other side of the aisle claim to be concerned about powerful assault weapons crossing the border into mexico illegally. but how can they be completely fine with those same powerful assault weapons being sold right here in this country legally putting our communities

at even greater risk? this is more -- nothing more than a political witch-hunt. the disgraceful posturing that i have witnessed at last week's markup is continuing on the floor today. i agree it never should have come to this, but we are here debating this resolution solely becae of the majority. they created the scandal and produc a showdown during an election season just to spear an honorable public servant and to embarrass his boss. i urge my colleagues to reject this partisan, unprecedented resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. it's now my honor to yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house, john boehner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio, the speaker of the house, is recognized. the speaker: i want to thank my

colleagufor yielding. it's important for the american people to know how we got here and to know the facts of this case. the congress asked the justice department for the facts related from the fast and furious and the events that led to the death of u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. the justicdepartment did not provide the facts and the information that we requested. instead, the information came from people outside the department, people who wanted to do the right thing. in addition to not providing the information, the administration admitted misleading congress, actually detracting a letter it had sent 10 months earlier. i think all the members understand this is a very serious matter. the terry family wants to know how this happened and they have every right to have their answers and the house needs to know how this happened and it's

our constitutional duty to find out. so the house oversight and government reform committee issued a lawful and narrowly tailored subpoena. we've been patient, giving the justice department every opportunity to comply so that we can get to the bottom of this for the terry family. we have shown more than enough good faith, but the white house has chosen to invoke executive privilege. that leaves us no other options. the only recourse left of the house is to continue seeking the truth and to hold attorney general in contempt of congress . now, i don't take this matter lightly, and i would frankly hope it would never come to this. the house's focus is on jobs and the economy, but no justice department is ave the law and no justice department is above the constitution which each of

us have sworn an oath to uphold. so i ask the members of this body to come together and to support this resolution so that we can seek the answers that the terry family and the american people deserve. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: let me just say -- i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cummings: let me say in response to the speaker, we too are saddened by the death of border patrol agent brian terry who gave his life, service to his country on december 15, 2010. but, mr. speaker, despite -- but despite what my colleagues havelaimed, this contempt vote is not about getting documents that ow how gunwalking was initiated and utilized in operation fast and furious. the only documents in dispute are documents created fast and

furious ended and after brian terry's death, but we pledge to continue to find all the answers with regard to the death of brian terry. with that i yield the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, two minutes, a member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. i would add that we have 31 democrats that signed a letter to the department of justice and to the white house in the aftermath of agent terry's death to fully cooperate in this investigation. however, i rise in strong opposition to this contempt resolution. while criticism of the department of justice for oversight of the so-called gun walking operation during both the bush administration and the current administration, criticism may be warranted, a

finding of contempt against a sitting attorney general of the united states is most certainly not. and determining whether this house should hold our highest ranking national law enforcement officer in contempt of congress, let us remember that up until last week, the majori of our committee had been demanding the production of documents that our attorney general is legally prohibited from disclosing. and that has caused much of the delay here. in other words, mr. holder would have broken the law and likely compromised existing crimin prosecutions if he adhered to the majority's unreasonable request for materials relating to ongoing criminal investigations, federal wiretap communications and under judicial seal and dumonts also subje to grand jury seccy rules. let us also be mindful we are considering the extent of cooperation or noncooperation of an attorney general who has apared before congress on nine separate occasions, whose

justice department s produced over 7,600 pages of documents to oversight investigators and who continues to offer significant accommodations to extraordinary and ever-changing requests for information. the majority continues to deny any and all democratic requests to publicly question, under oath, law enforcement officials including former director of the a.t.f. ken melson, the head of the very agency that held the gun walking operations such as fast and furious. it's clear that what began as a legitimate and compelling committee oversight investigation has deteriorad -- mr. cummings: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. mr. lynch: in closing i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to oppose this contempt resolution and i yield the -- yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. walberg. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walberg: there is no joy in today's action but the fact remains, 18 months after u.s. border patrol agent brian terry was murdered, the justice department has failed to hold anybody accountable for the mistakes of operation fast and furious. as a member of the oversight and government reform committee, i have witnessed firsthand the stone wall big the department of justice and attorney general holder. at every question, the justice department has refused to acknowledge what they know about the gun walking tactics that led to agent terry's death. most recently, they have hid behind the president's erroneous claims of executive privilege, an actionth president denounced as lacking transparency when he was campaigning. the department has stood in open defiance of congress'

moral and constitutional obligation to conduct oversight of this affair. the family of agent terry deserves to know who approved fast and furious. they have the right to know who had the power to stop this program before he was murdered and they need an explanation as to why the department of justice took nine months to withdraw their false denial that they had ever let guns walk to mexico. to some on the other side of the aisle -- the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman ha expired. mr. issa: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recogzed. mr. walberg: to some it seems fine that the people who authorized this operation still work in the department of justice. they would rather play politics rather than uphold congress' ght to investigate. this is about making sure another 2,000 firearms don't end up in the hands of mexican drug cartels and it's abt bringing closure to the terry family. i urge my colleagues to support

this resolution and honor the memory of brian terry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from m.d. mr. cummings: i yield to the distinguished gentleman from m.d., mr. hoyer, four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland, the minority whip, is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, this is a sad day for the house of representatives. it is an irresponsible day for the house of representatives. it is a day in which the majority party asked us to take an action that has nev been taken in the history of america. never once holding a cabinet officer in contempt.

of the -- in contempt of the congress. now there have been previous contempt citations. some promoted by democratic committees and some promoted by republican committees. the average time between committee action and consideratn on the floor of the house is 87 days. time to reflect on an extraordinarily important action. with consequences beyond the knowledge of anybody sitting here today. now i want to tell the chairman with all due respect, i tnk this investigation has been extraordinarily superficial. i think the chairman has failed to call witnesses that could in fact give relevant, cogent testimony. -- testimony on the issues to bear. that ought to be done. that is why i will strongly

support the motion of the gentleman from michigan, mr. dingell, who has served here longer than any of the rest of us, and who is one of the strongest gun control rights supporters in this congress, and what his motion says is, let us reflect, let us bring thoughtful judgment, let us not every time that there is the opportunity to choose confrontation over cooperation and consensus. that has been the history of this congress. competition over consensus every time. and america is suffering because of it. i ask my friends on the republican side of the aisle, who know me, to be a bipartisan member of this body. that believes in this institution. and who cares about its actions

and the precedent they will set. don't do this. vote for this motion to refer. give the chaman they ha opportunity he should have taken before to have a full hearing, calling former attorney general mccasey, calling the former head of the a.t.f. calling agents who were personally involved in this proceeding. i venture to say that there are very few members who will vote on this issue who have read the committee proceedings. very few members who have read the minority report or the majority report. yet they are about to take a historic vote to do what has never been done by any congress, 111 congresses did not take this action. this is not about republicans or democrats. this is about our constitution.

our country. our respect. for a nation of laws not of men. that's what this bill is about. we ought not to be voting as republicans and democrats. we ought to be voting as americans. americans committ to justice and fair process. i regret that i do not believe this committee has followed that. i believe that the political motivations mind this resolution are clear and pose a clear and present danger to this nation. may i have 30 additional seconds? mr. mcgovern: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman from massachusetts.

when we vote on this referral, vote as americans, not as a partisan issue. you may have the attorney general in the future. it's not the question of the party of the attorney general. it is the question of whether or not this congress is going to provide for equal treatment of all attorneys general. and all cabinet officers. let us vote for this motion to refer and give the comttee the opportunity it should take. let us vote down this motion. the speakepro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. hoyer: let us vote down the motions for contempt. mrspeaker, i now yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. issa: mr. speaker, it is now my honor to yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona, an active participant

and from the district from which th event sprung, mr. go czar. -- mr. gosar mr. gosar: finding the attorney general in contempt of congress is long overdue, welcome news for the merp people and especially for arizonans. as i explained, mr. holder has shown his contempt and utter disdain for our constitutional rights, our border, arizonans and all americans. 115 members of congress agree that americans lack confidence in mr. holder and his department. every member of congress should do their constitutional duty and hold the attorney general in contempt toy. the people of arizona, california, nemexico, and texas who deal with the unsecure borders and violent mexican cartels on a regular basis now must also live in fear of the firearms. some have said these charges against attorney general eric holderer racially motivated and i couldn't disagree more.

the violent cartels armed by our government have no regard for party i.d. or race. throughout our nation and specifically in arizona, folks are all political parties and all races are now living in danger of this lethal violence due to the actions of this administration. make no mistakes about it, today's vote is to deliver justice and accountability for the brian terry family and the over 300 mexicans who have died as a result of fast and furious. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has ex-priored. mr. cummings: i yield the gentleman from m.d. 30 second. mr. hoyer: in 2009, our speaker stood on this floor outraged about the process. we, too, areouraged about the process. we will not stand for this. i would ask my house republican colleagues and those who believe we should be he protecting the american people, protecting our constitution,

not vote on this bill, let's just get up and leave. my colleagues may well follow that advice. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield myself 10 seconds. i have no doubt the gentleman will walk off the floor but his motion is asking us also to delay into an election gting an answe for the terry family. i know that is not the wise course and i stongly support that we do this today and with that, i yield one minute to the gentleman from idaho, mr. labrador. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. labrador. -- mr. labrador: i stand with a heavy heart in support of this resolution of contempt. it puts us one step closer to holding the attorney general accountable. he has not only failed to produce relevant dumont -- dock yulet, he has misled this

congress and prevented us from uncovering the truth. how can the members of the minority say that an investigation is superficial when we don't even have all the documents? when the attorney general was before the committee on oversight st year, i brought to light his historical pattern of willful ignorance, high temperaturing his lack of knowledge under oath. he knows nothing, he says nothing, and he seeks for nothing. never in my life have i met a man more unconcerned with the search for the truth. i have sense become evenore disturbed by the depths to which mr. holder and his alryes -- allies will sink to stone wall justice. yes, this is an uns prekented day, i agree with you. but not until now have we had an attorney general have to retract so many staments made to the congress of the united states, the duly elected representatives of the people of the united states. let us vote to support this motion for contempt and i yield back my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: may i inquire how much ti both sides have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from m.d. has -- from maryland has 6 1/4 minutes remain, the gentleman from california has 11 1/4 minutes remaining. mr. cummings: i grant to mrs. maloney two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, the family of brian terry deserves our respect, our condolences and our best eorts to finish the mission, to put an end to gun violence on the southern border. but itead of going after gun violence, this investigation has gone after the man that tried to stop the gun violence, the attorney geral. chairman issa has acknowledged that attorney general holder

did not know about the gunwalking operation. he has acknowledged that the president and the white house did not know about the gunwalking operation. both the white house and the attorney general have acknowledge that the gunwalking operation was a tragic mistake, that it was badly executed and that it originated under the brucks -- under the bush administration. it was attorney general holder that terminated the program and requested an extensive investigation of the operation and how it was conducted. and the documents thathey are now requesting in this vast and -- in this fast and furious investigation have absolutely nothing to do with gunwalking. if they were really interested in discovering the truth, the committee would have called kenneth nelson, head of the

a.t.f., as a witness. the chairman refused 10 requests for mr. melson. the republicans have not granted one single democratic witness request in 16 months, not one. this is not about discovering the truth. this is about politics. this has become an obsessive political vendetta for pursuing a political agenda in a season of ugly politics. if they were serious about ending gun violence, they would do what many a.t.f. agents have suggested and put some teeth in the law and that is why i authored with my colleagues a bill to make gun trafficking a federal offense and strengthen penalties for straw purchases. this unprecedented contempt citation is politics at its worse and why this body is held

in such low esteem. mr. issa: i ask the statement by the terry family be placed in the record at this time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, it will be placed in the record. mr. issa: i'm sure the gentlelady from new york recognizes the right of a minority hearing has not been exercised and that would have been answered the questions as they are well aware of bringing kenneth melson before the committee. they did not exercise their right. with that i yield a minute to the gentleman from florida, the senior member of the committee, mr. mica. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute. mr. mica: thank you for yielding. when the founding fathers created our government and established the committees in congress, that authorizing committees -- they had authorizing committees, they had appropriating committees. the predecessor of this commite was established for a fundamental reason and that's to make certain that programs

and funding were properly executed and used by agencies created by congress. congress created the law that created the department of justice. congress fundedthe programs that are under the department of justice. it's our responsibility to investigate when things go wrong, and things went wrong. an agent of the united states was murdered with weapons which were funded by the agency that we created. all we have asked for is the documents. all we want are the facts, and we have been thwarted. eric holder, attorney general of the united states, the highest judicial enforcement officer of the united states, has been in contempt, is in contempt and is showing contempt for the congress and the responsibility under the constitution of this important committee of congress. i urge adoption of the contempt

resolution against the attorney general. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's me has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, i grant the gentleman from california, mr. schiff, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. schiff: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i rise in strong opposition to these contempt resolutions. i spent six years as an assistant u.s. attorney and i have greated a mir mation and respect for the hardworking men and women of the department. i have great respect for our attorney general who i think has been a superb attorney general and is a man of integrity. i like most americans would like to know about the facts of fast and furious, about the problem of guns crossing our border, the horrendous violence south of our border, but what we do today will shed no light on that. what we do today will not improve the situation in terms of gun violence that's claimed the lives of 10's of thousands of -- tens of tusands of

mexican citizens and claimed the lives of americans. what we are doing today is simply a partisan abuse of the contempt power. 13% of the american people think highly of congress and to date those 13% are wondering why. what we do will cause no injury to the department, but it will cause great injury to this house. the justice department, after providing 8,000 documents and extensive testimony, is now being required to turn over privileged materials. and like all administrations before it, it has reluctantly used the executive privilege to respectfully refuse to provide materials it cannot provide. and so now here we are bringing a contempt motion against the attorney general which our committee chairman acknowledges was not aware of fast and furious. they don't expect any documents

to show you about fast and furious and yet we are going to hold this cabinet officials in contempt? that is an outrageous abuse of the contempt power. what will hapn when this congress actually needs to use the contempt power for legitimate purpose? will anyone still recognize it? i urge the speaker to withtraw this motion as indeed speaker gingrich withdrew the motion in his stay and let the parties work this out. we both know, democrats and republicans, how this will end. it will end months from now. let's end this partisan exercise now. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. schiff: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield myself 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. issa: i respect my colleague from califora. we came into congress together some 12 years ago, but the fact is he talked everhing except

the fact that congress was lied to in a letter. 10 months went by. we're only asking for information about the false statements made to congress during there intervening period and nothing more. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentman yields back the balance of his time. mr. issa: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i yield to the leader, ms. pelosi, 30 seconds. one minute. sorry. the speaker pro tempore: the minority leader is recognized. ms. pelosi: i thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i commend him for his extraordinary patriotism, for his commitment to upholding our oath of office to protect and defendhe constitution and for recognizing full well the congressional role of oversight of all branches of government. i think we all share thatiew that congress has a legitimate

role to play in oversight and thus your committee has so mu jurisdiction and i respect that. i think we all also agree -- i think we all very, very much agree that we are very sad and seek justice for the family of border patrol agent brian terry . his loss is a tragedy for all who knew him, for all of us who care about him and we offer our condolences to his family. so sad. but that's not what we're here to debate. what we agree upon. what we're here to debate is something very, very large because it is a major disagreement between the two sides of the aisle here, and

i'm sorry to say that, about what our responsibilities are to the constitution of the united states. the constitution says -- it requires congress and the gleck tif branch to avoid unnecessary -- gleck tif branch to avoid unnecessary conflict and seek accommodations that serves both interests. that's how the constitution guides us. as attorney general william smith who served under president ronald reagan said, the accommodation required is not simply an exchange of concessions or a test of political strength. it is an obligation of each branch to take -- to make a principled effort to acknowledge and if possible to meet the legimate needs of the other branch. mr. speaker, on the floor today , the republicans in congress are not taking a principled --

making a principled effort to acknowledge or meet the legitimate needs of the other branch. what they are doing is exploiting a very unfortunate circumstance for reasons that i cannot even characterize so i won't, but i will say this. without any fear of contradiction, the premise -- the basic premise that this debate is predicated on today is a false premise. it's factually not true. how many more ways can i say that? and so we have a debate predicated on a false premise and what can that lead to that has any good outcome?

it is a situation where we have a contempt of congress resolution against a sitting cabinet member which is the first time in the over 200-year history of our country that this has ever happened. again, what is the motivation? secondly -- and that's why i quoted the constitution -- this motion is not a principled effort to resolve the issue. if it were we would not be able to measure in hours and days, not even weeks, rush the railroading of a resolution of a contempt of congress that the republicans passed last week and are bringing this week to the house floor. i say this because i took considerab heat myself when

we brought contempt charges against two staff people at the white house. josh bolten and harriet miers 4 1/2 years ago. we were asking for some papers. we got nothing. as i say to my friends, not even a wrapper off of a piece of gum. nothing. stonewall. nothing. and yet our chairman at the time of the judiary committee, mr. conyers, and our house leadership, mr. hoyer and others, kept saying, find a way . exhaust every remedy so that we do not have to take this action of bringing a contempt charge to the floor of the house. for over 200 years -- 200 days -- for over 200 days we tried, we tried, we tried to resolve

the situation. and when we could not we brought it to thfloor, two staff people at the white house. in stark contrast to the rush of one week to the next, not even factual charge against the attorney general of the united states. it may just be a coincidence. i don't know. that the attorney general of the united states, the chief legal officer of the country, have the responsibility to fight voter suppression, which is going on in our country, that he has refused to defend the constitutionality of doma because he doesn't believe it's constitional or has major disagreements on immigration which falls under --

enforcement of immigration law. and may just be a coincidence that those are part of his responsibilities. or maybe it isn't. but the fact is that the chief legal officer of our country, and his staff, have to spend enormous energy, psychic, intellectual, and time, dealing , dealing with this unprincipled effort on the part of the republicans. just when you think you have seen it all, just when you think they couldn't possibly go any further over the edge, they come up with something like this. it's stunning. it really is. and i don't mean that as in

it's beautiful. it's stunning. it stops you in your tracks. you say how far will they go? have they no limits? apparently not. and so the temptation is to say , let's just ignore the whole thing. do not dignify what they are doing by even being present on the floor and they do -- when they do this heinous act. first time in the history of our country to bring a contempt against the cab -- against a cabinet officer. you would think they'd be more careful about what they say, but being careful about what they say is aparently not part of their agenda. and so i know in our caucus, there's a mixedesponse to this. they're acting politically, we should act politically. we shouldn't vote on this, i

want to vote no. i think members have to make their own decision about that. i'm very moved by the -- i'm very moved by the efforts of our congressional black caucus to say that they're going to walk out on this. walk out on this. and perhaps that's the best approach for us to take. how else can we impress upon the american people without scaring them about what is happening here? what is happening here? what is happening here? it's shameful. what is happening here is something we all have an obligation to speak out against.

because i'm telling you, it's eric holder today, it's anybody else tomorrow, any charge they can drum up. and the fact is, and has been said, the fact is that the papers that they have seen, they know are exculpatory. that means there's no blame on the attorney general. and they know that. and that's why they don't want to bring those responsible for this before their committee and that's w i commend chairman dingell for his leadership and the motion he will bring to the floor momentarily, a motion of referral. so that we can get to the bottom of this. so that we can see how this happens. so that we can offer some solace to brian terry's family.

and so that we can have some sense of decency about what should happen on the floor of the house and when it goes -- it seems to me the more baseless the charge, the higher up they want to go with the contempt. the less they have to say that is real, the higher up they want to bring the contempt charge. i have always tried toake it a habit of not questioning the motivation of people. they believe what they believe. we believe what we believe. and we act upon our beliefs. it always interested me that in this congress somebody can bring something to the floor that is not true, but if i were

to call someone a misrepresenter of that information, my words would be taken down. so i guess that gives them liberty to say anythin because it's in the form of a motion. but let's make sure that we all take responsibility for doing the right thing by not letting there be an abuse of power and a-- an abuse of this floor of the house and an abuse of the time of the exec tiff branch and abuse of a -- of the time of a member of the cabinet who has serious responsibilities to our country. i urge my colleagues to do what they want as far as walking off. i, myself, had said i was coming to this floor to vote against this resolution.

i thought it was so wrong that there was no question to take the opportunity to vote no. but listening to the debate, almost unbelievable, not that what they're saying is believable but unbelievable that they would say it. soow i say to those who have a doubt about how they want to proceed that instead of doing what i said before, which was just to come and to treat this as an act of -- a bill before the congress a resolution before the congress and express my no, listening to the unconscionable presentation, i want to join my c.b.c. colleagues in boycotting the vote when we have the walkout after the debate over mr. dingell's -- we all take our responsibility seriously here. one of them, first and

foremost, is support, uphold and defend the constitution of the united states. that constitution requires the congress and the executive branch, i'll end as i began, to avoid unnecessary conflict and seek accommodation to serve both interests, the executive branch and e legislative branch. we are not upholding that aspect of the constitution. i urge my colleagues to vote no, or no vote. but to seriously reject and let's hope that this will not be repeted. but i'm telling you, if eric hold -- it's eric holder one day, you don't know who it is the next because of the frivolousness with which they treat a serious responsibility of the house of representatives. it's appalling. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. the gentleman from california.

mr. issa: as i know the former speaker of the house knows, the attorney general is being hold in contempt as the custodian of the records for refusing to deliver them, not because we got to choose how far up or not up we got to go. with that, i recognize the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minu. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. leader pelosi seriously questioned our motivations here. let me be crystal clear what my motivation is. we have a dead united states agent. meff more than -- we have more than 200 dead people in mexico. we have more than 2,000 weapons knowingly, willfully given to the ug cartels. more than 1,000 of those weapons are still missing. most of them are ak-47's. we have a duly issued subpoena that has not been responded to. on february 4, 2011, on department of justice letterhead they presented a letter that was a lie. it took them nine to 10 months to provide that information to

say, whoops, sorry. that's not good enough. this is not about eric holder. this is about the departmentf justice and justice in the united states of america. and i would, hen back to the june 3, 2011 letter that 31 democrats, brave democrats, sent to the white house. i read part of this. quote, it is equally troubling, remember, this is over a year ago, it is equally troubling that the department of justice has delayed action and withheld information from congressional inquiry, end quote. you went on to say, quote, while the department of justice can and should contie its investigation, those activities should not curtail the ability of congress to fulfill its oversight duty. we urge you to insuct the department of justice to promptly provide complete answers to all congressional -- mr. issa: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. mr. chaffetz: nothing has changed in over a year but i can tell you this, brian terry doesn't have answers you don't have answers, i don't have answers. i want all the factings.

that's what we're asking for today, the facts, all of them. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from m.d. is recognized. mr. cummings: i reed mind the gentleman that all this started under president george bush. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from cifornia. mr. issa: i regnize myself for 10 seconds. the distinguished gentleman can have his opinion but not his facts. fast and furious began under president obama and attorney general holder. i trust the gentleman would no longer make statements that are untrue. mr. cummings: i yield myself 15 seconds. again, the gentleman puts out statements in arch of facts. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield one minute to

mr. burton of indiana. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burton: there's been a lot of hyperbole and a lot of repetition but a lot of things that have been said haven't been factual. brian terry was murdered. hundreds of people have been murdered in mexico with guns that went across the border. the justice department said in february of 2011, they had no knowledge about this. 10 months later, they admitted they lied. now, they said they didn't know and then they said they said they did. i don't know what you call that but to me it's a lie. then chairman issa tried again and again to get information so we could get to the bottom of this like the 32 democrats wanted and they refused. he sent subpoenas. they refused. they hid behind this being an ongoing investigation and they couldn't give those dumonts. -- documents. we got a fraction of the documents that should have been given to us.

but they wouldn't do that. issa met with the attorney general's people to try to come to some conclusion, some kind of resolution of this. so we wouldn't have to move the contempt citation. nothing. absolutely nothing. and then finally, at the 11th hour, when we knew that we were going to have to move with the contempt citation, the president of the united states issues an executive order claiming executive privilege. something funny -- mr. issa: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the spker pro tempore: the gentleman is rognized. mr. burton: something is wrong. something is being hidden from the congress and the american people. and no matter how much is being said here tonight, the fact of the matter is, we aren't getting the information. a border patrol agent has been killed, maybe two. hundreds of people have been killed in mexico with american guns that our government knew were going across that boer and the attorney general has not been giving us the information, the juice

department has been hiding it from the congress of the american people and the president has claimed executive privilege. if that doesn't tell you something, nothing will. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expire. the gentleman from m.d. -- mr. maryland. mr. cummings: i reserve. mr. issa: how much time is reining. the chair: the gentleman fm -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 6 1/2 minutes remain, the gentleman from maryland has 1 1/4 minutes remaining. mr. issa: i ask unanimous consent to place inta the record letters dated may 24, 2012, may 30, 2012, and june 1, 2012, to -- all addressed to elijah cummings, ranking member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, they will appear in the record. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lankford, one munn. -- one minute.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one mite. mr. lankford: this is a duly sad day. this is not stunning, as i've heard. this is a deliberative process that we tried to work through. we have a border agent that's been killed. we have hundreds of mexicans that have been killed. and the fingerprints on all that go straight back to an operation that was done by the federal government. this is a moment to get all the facts, to get it on the table, find out what happened and to get it done. we started with a subpoena process over 22 diffent categories. we narrowed that down to one. how do we get the documents from the time of february 4 of last year, when the department of justice told us one thing, and december, when they said, oops, and change thared story. we found out they had not told us the truth and in that time period when they staaled staaled, staaled tissue when they stalled, stalled, stalled, we just want the information on that. how did this occur? this is essential because

phoenix a.t.f. had a plan, fast and furious. it was abriveed the u.s. attorney in that area and went up the food chain to department of justice where it was signed off. this is not irrelevant. this is essential that we know the process of how this was done. if we're going to fix this problem, we've got to know the facts. instead they're being withheld. i yield back. the speaker pro teore: the time of the gentleman has expire. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. issa: mr. speaker, point of inquiry, do i have the right to close? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has the right to close. mr. issa: i reserve my rig to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: do you have any more speakers? mr. issa: no, i do not. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, as the democratic leader said, there's no doubt that the constitution gives congress the right and responsibility to

investigate, but the constitution also requires something else. it requires congress and the executive branch to avoid unnecessary conflict and deceit, accommodations that serve both of their interests. in this case the attorney general has testified nine times. he's provided thousands of pages of documents. he's provided 13 pages of deliberative internal document and he's willing to provide even more to meet the recent demands of chairman issa. but house republican leaders are not honoring their constitutional obligations. in fact, th are running in the wrong direction as quickly as possible. it's fundamentally wrong to vote in favor of this resolution at this time when the attorney general has been working with the house in good faith. i believe this action will undermine the standing of the house, will cement the speaker's legacy and will be recorded by history as a discredit to this institution. with that i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i recognize myself for such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. issa: mr. speaker, there's been a lot talked about here about documents that the attorney general couldn't give us. these documents, documents under seal would be an example of documents that we should n see except encamera and we have taken great care to ensure that no one outside members of congress and key staff have ever looked at them. but i've looked at them, and what i know is that these documents read by any person of ordinary learning make it very clear that these wiretap applications read and signed by

individuals in the department of justice in washington, you read them, you now they were gunwalking. people will tell you differently. i give you my word, you read this, you know they were letting guns go to mexico. they knew who the buyers were, who the intermediaries were, who the recipients were and most importantly where they ended up. and this was part of evidence given to judges inrder to get wiretaps, they were evidence -- there were evidence thathey knew that in fact weapons had already ended up in mexico. that's before brian terry was killed. that's where fast and furious could have been stopped. that's where people could have been warned. in fact, that's -- at a time which a.t.f. agents in mexico city, if they punched in the serial number of a weapon found the, they got an erroneous, an error. they didn't get meaningful infoation because that was

being blocked, not by a.t.f., per se, but by the department of justice under the auspices of the u.s. attorney and his bosses. now, you're going to hear this began under president bush. attorney general mukasey. i am going to tell you that's just false. what happened in previous administrations with some of the same local a.t.f. agents was they exercised extremely bad judgment. they did things and pushed on programs that i believe were poorly conceived and poorly manned and as a result they lost track of weapons repeatedly. that happened. and it was wrong. the u.s. attorney at the time even declined prosecutions because of failed techniques. all of these were shut down during the bush administration. president bush can take no credit for it. he didn't know it. as far as i know the attorney general didn't know. and anyone who saw the record

of that should say, this was wrong-minded. but during this administration, during the time in which the attorn general and his key lieutenants, including lanny bruer, were in charge they reopened the prosecutions from a failed program called wide receiver and they opened fast and furious. now, i'm the second child in a family. i have an older brother, and i learned at a very young age you in fact cannot when you do something wrong s, my brother, billy, did it. it doesn't work that way. you're responsible what you do. this happened under the attorney general's watch. but that's not why we're here today. we're here because when we asked legitimate questions about brian terry's murder, about fast and furious, we were lied to. we were lied to repeatedly and over a 10-month period.

the fact is that is what we're here for. the american people want to know if you give false testimony to congress and the minority leader talked about why is there such a hurry. why was there 10 months' delay? i was sworn in just afew days before this investigation began, and now we're nearing an election and we don't want to have this during an election. we want resolution for the terry family. the important thing is we know enough to know that we have people who have told us under pement of criminal prosecution they haveold congress d their employees -- penalty of criminal prosecution they have told congress and their employees certain documents exist. we asked for those document and we were denied them. we can't bring kenneth melson here in good faith. if in fact there are documents he say exist, and they do and they will not be given to us, we want to have those so we can

ask the best questions. you heard earlier that in fact we denied somehow due process to the minority. my ranking member's very capable and has for minority days, meetings exclusively for him, and he didn't do it. when we had a.t.f. and other individuals early on all of whom worked for this government, he didn't ask any. it wasn't until he asked the attorney general to come in based on these false statements and final retraction that he suddenly wanted a previous attorney general who happened to say, no, i don't want to come. so on that particular day we would have had to subpoena him to get him in. i have no objection to having the former attorney general in. i believe that on his watch and his predecesr's watch and his predecessor's watch and for a very long time we have not done a good job of overseeing the actions of field agents when it comes to guns.

but, ain, we're here today for the fit time in over 200 years to deal with an attorney general who has flat refused to give the information related to lies and a cover-up exclusively within his jurisdiction. lies and a cover-up exclusively in his jurisdiction. does the house leader voted 255- 267. >> good afternoon.

today's boad is the regrettable, nation of what's became a misguided and politically motivated investigation. by advancing it over the past year and a half, congressman iss a and others have focused on politics or public safety. instead of trying to correct the problems, it led to a series of what law enforcement operations and instead of helping us find ways to better protect the brave law enforcement agents like agent friend terry -- brian terry, the lead to this unnecessary and unwarranted outcome. the man and woman of the united states department of justice and i have remained focused on what should and must be our government's top priority, protecting the american people. what concerns about operation fast and furious came to light, i took action. and ordered an independent

investigation into what happened. we learned the flawed tactics used in this operation began in the previous administration but i made sure they ended in this one. i also make sure that agents and prosecutors across the country knew that such tactics must never be used again. i put in place new policies, new safeguards, and new leadership to make certain of this and took extraordinary steps to facilitate robust congressional oversight. let me be very clear. that was my response to operation fast and furious. any suggestion to the contrary is simply not consistent with the facts. i had hoped that congressional leaders would be good faith partners in this work and some more. others have devoted their time and their attention to making reckless charges, and supported by fact and advancing truly

absurd conspiracy theories. unfortunately, the same members of congress were nowhere to be found when the justice department and others invited them to help look for real solutions to the terrible problem of violence on both sides of our southwest border. that is tragic and is also irresponsible. the problem of drugs and weapons trafficking across this border is a real and significant public safety threat. he deserves the attention of every leader in washington. in the face of these and other challenges, the justice department has continued to move forward in filling its critical of law enforcement responsibilities, whether it is with regards to prosecuting financial and health-care fraud, achieving a record mortgage settlement, taking aggressive action in protecting the most vulnerable among us, or challenging proposed voting changes and redistricting maps

that would potentially disenfranchise millions of voters. this department of justice has not been afraid to act. nor have i been. some of these enforcement decisions were not popular. and help to explain the actions that were taken today by the house. as attorney general, i do not look to that which is politically expedient. on behalf of the american people where privilege to serve, i seek justice. in recent weeks, the justice department secured its seventh conviction in the most serious plot our nation faced since 9/11 and two days ago, the department awarded more than $100 million in grants to save or create law enforcement jobs including more than 600 jobs for recent veterans. this is the kind of work that leaders in washington should be striving together to of advance. the time when so many americans are in need of our help, i

refuse to be deterred from it. will not let election-year politics and gamesmanship stand in the way of continued progress. today's vote may make for good political theater in the minds of some but it is that base both a crass effort and a grave disservice to the american people. they expect and they deserve for more. as a result of the action taken today, and unnecessary conflict will ensue. my efforts to resolve this matter short of such a battle were rebuffed by congressmen iss supporters. there were not interested in bringing an end to this the last disputes or obtaining the information they said they wanted. their goal was a vote with the help of special interests they have now engineered. what ever the path, it will not distract me or the men and women of the united states to protest

the justice from the important tasks that are our responsibility. a great deal of work for the american people remains to be done. i will be getting back to it. i suggest that those who orchestrated today's vote do the same. >> the u.s. supreme court has upheld virtually all of president obama's health care law. in a 5-4 ruling, the court kept intact the individual mandate for americans to buy health insurance, citing the power of congress to impose taxes. over the next two hours, you would your reaction to the decision from president obama, and gop presidential candidate mitt romney. centiliters harry reid and

mcconnell, and from members of congress outside the supreme court. on "washington journal" we will spoke as on the decision to uphold the president's health care law beginning with susan denser. and robert barnes. we will speak with four members of the house. "washington journal" is live on on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. the heritage foundation will host a forum this morning on the supreme court's decision to uphold the constitutionality of the health care law. it will be live on c-span3 at

10:00 a.m. eastern. this was the same -- the scene outside the supreme court on thursday. across the street from the u.s. capitol. president obama said that decision was a victory for all people well republican presidential candidate mitt romney said those who want to replace the lot will have to replace president obama. their comments are about 10 minutes. >> good afternoon. earlier today, the supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the affordable care act. the name of the health care reform we past two years ago. they reaffirmed a fundamental principle. here in america in the wealthiest nation on earth, no illness or accident should lead to any family's financial

ruling -- ruined. there will be a lot of discussion about the politics of all this, about who won and who lost. that is how things tend to be viewed in washington. that discussion misses the point. whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the supreme court's decision to uphold it.

ction. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, 2 1/2 years ago, a democratic president teamed up with a democrat-led congress to force a piece of legislation on the american people that they never asked for and that has turned out to be just as disastrous as many of us predicted. amid economic recession, a spiraling federal debt and accelerated increases in government health spending, they proposed a bill that made all of those problems worse. americans were promised lower health care costs. they're going up. americans were promised lower premiums. they're going up. most americans were promised their taxes wouldn't change, and they're going up. seniors were promised medicare would be protected. it was raided to pay for a new entitlement instead.

americans were promised it would create jobs. the c.b.o. predicts it will lead to nearly a million fewer jobs. americans were promised they could keep their health plans if ey liked it, yet millions have learned they can't. and the president of the united states himself promised up and down that this bill was not a tax. this was one of the democrats' top selling points because they knew it would never have passed if they said it was a tax. well, the supreme court has spoken. this law is a tax. the bill was sold to the american people on a deception. but it's not just that the promises about this law weren't kept. it's that it made the problems

it was meant to solve even worse. the supposed cureas proven to be worse than the disease. so the pundits will talk a lot todaabout what theyhink today's rulg means and what it doesn't mean, but i can assure you of this: republicanson't let up whatsoever in our determination to repeal this terrible law and replace it with the kind of reforms that will truly address the problems it was meant to solve. now, look, we've passed plenty of terrible laws around here that the court finds constitutional. constitutionality was never an argument to keep this law i place and it's certainly not one you'll hear from republicans in congress. there's only one way to truly fix obama-care, only one way,

and that's a full repeal. a full repeal that clears the way for commonsense, step-by-step reforms that protect americans' access to the care they need, from the doctor they choose, at a lower cost. and that's precisely what republicans are committed to doing. the american people weren't waiting on the supreme court to tell them whether they supported this law. that question was settled 2 1/2 years ago. the more the american people have learned about this law, the less they have liked it. so now the court has ruled. it's tim to move beyond the constitutional debate and focus on the primary reason this law should be fully repealed and replaced -- because of the colossal damage it has already done to our health careystem, to the economy, and to the job

market. the democrat health care law has made things worse. americans want it repealed and that's precisely what we intend to do. americans want us to start over, and today's decision does nothing to change that. the court's ruling doesn't mark the end of the debate. it marks a fresh start on the road to repeal. that's been our goal from the start. that's our goal now, and we plan to achieve it. the president has done nothing to address the problems of cost, care, and access. we will

.e will . .

the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. i never thought we woulde here today. i never thought this point would come. throughout 18 months of investigation, through countless areas of negotiations in order to get the nimum material necessary to find out the facts behind fast and furious and the murder of brian -- border patr agent brian terry, i always believed that in time we would reach an accommodation sufficient to get the information needed r the american people while at the same time preserving the ongoing criminal investigation.

i'm proud to say that our committee has maintained the ability for the justice department to continue their ongoing prosecutions, neither the majority nor minority has allowed any material to become public that could compromise that. however, the facts remain fast and furious, the department of justice permitted sale of more than 2,000 weapons that fell into the hands of the mexican drug cartels was both reckless and inexcusable, and it clearly was known by people both career professionals and political appointees from the lowliest member on the ground in phoenix to high ranking officials in the department of justice. but that's not what we are here for today. today we are here on a very narrow contempt, one that the speaker of the house in his wisdom and assistance has helped us to fashion. let it be clear we still have unanswered questions on a

myriad of areas related to operation fast and furious, but today we are only here to determine over the 10 months from the time in which the american people and the congress of the united states was lied to, given false -- terally the reverse statement that no guns were allowed to walk. during that 10 mohs before the justice department finally owned up and recognized that they had to come clean, that in fact fast and furious was all about gunwalking. the department of justice maintained a series of documents, many of these documents are believed to be communications between and with the very individuals at the heart of the decisn to go forward with fast and furious. therefore we have focused our limited contempt on those documents. if our committee is able to reive the documents in totality that show who brought about the dishonest at the same time to congress and who covered it up for 10 months, we

believe that will allow us to backtrack to the individuals whultimately believed in fast and furious, facilitated fast and furious, and ultimately may be responsible for brian terry's death. i yield myself an additional 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: i won't read everything that's in my opening statement. i will read just one more thing. these words were said on the house flr in 2008. when speaker pelosi supported contempt. she said, congress has a responsibility of oversight of the executive branch. i know that members on both sides of the aisle take the responsibity very seriously. oversight isn institutional obligation to ensure against abuse o power, subpoena authority is a vital tool of that oversight. speaker pelosi, 2008. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: thank you very

much, mr. speaker. i yield mylf such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from maryland is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. cummings: today, mr. speaker, is a historic day in many ways. on the one hand in a landmark decision by chief justice john roberts, the supreme court upheld the health care bill ensuring that millions of american families will finally have access to effective and affordable health care. on the other hand, the republican leaders of the house e about to plunge into the history books as some of the most extreme and partisan ever. rather than working together in a bipartisan way to create jobs and help our nation's economic recovery, they are rushing to the floor under emergency procedures with a contempt resolution that is riddledle with errors and motivated by paisan politics. when i first heard about the allegations of gunwalking at a.t.f., i was outraged. i fully supported our

committee's goals of finding out how it started, how it was used, and how it may have contributed to the death of border patrol agent brian terry. i made a personal commitment which i will keep to the terry family to conduct a responsible and thorough inquiry. but today's contempt vote is a culmination of one of the most highly politicized and reckless congressional investigations in decades. after receiving thousands of pages of documents from the justice department, conducting two dozen transcribed interviews, and hearing testony from the attorney general nine times, here are the facts. first, the committee has obtained no evidence that the attorney general authorized, condoned, or knew about gunwalking. chairman issa admitted this just yesterday before the rules committee. we have seen no evidence that the attorney general lied to congress or engaged in a

cover-up. we have seen no evidence that the white house had anything to do with the gunwalking operations. chairman issa admitted this on "fox news sunday" this past weekend. democratic -- democrats wanted a real investigation. chairman issa refud 10 different requests to hold a hearing wherehe director of a.t.f., the agency that ran these misguided operations. let me say that again. during this entire investigation no member of the house has been able to pose a single question to the head of a.t.f. at a public hearing. how could you have a credible investigation of gunwalking at a.t.f. and never hold a single hearing with the leadership of the agency in charge? the answer is, you can't. based on the documents we know -- we now know, the gunwalking in fact started in 2006. yesterday chairman issa said this about the misguided

operations during the bush administration and iuote, they were allle failures, end of quote. the committee has obtained documentary evidence that former attorney general mccasey was personally briefed on these botched interdiction efforts during his tenure and that he was told they would be expanded. chairman issa refused to call mr. mccasey for a hearing or even for a private meeting. during our committee's year and a half investigation, the chairman refused every single democratic request for witness. stead of taking any of these reasonable steps as part of a credible and evenhanded investigation to determine the facts, house republican leaders rushed this resolution to the floor only one week after it was voted out of committee. in contrast, during the last congress, house leaders ntind to negotiate for six

months to try to avoid contempt in the united states attorney's investigation. mr. speaker, some of my colleagues on the other side seem almost giddy about today's vote. after turning this investigation into an election year witch-hunt, they somehow convinced the speaker to take it to th floor. and they are finally about to get the prize they have been seeking for more than a year, holding the attorney general of the unit states of america in contempt. they may view today's vote as a success, but in reality it is a sad failure, a failure of our leadership, a failure of our constitutional obligations, and a failure of our responsibilities to the american people. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from virginia. -- california. million issa: the gentleman from -- i'll leave his statement where it lay. i now yield three minutes to

the gentleman from pennsylvania, the distinguished congressman meehan, a former u.s. attorney in that district. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. meehan: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, thiss not about politics. though there are some if they want to suggest that it is because of you yell at it long enough it will deflect the truth of the matter. it's not about gotcha. as a former prosecutor mysel the attorney general personifies the pursuit of justice and i want to s him do well, but it is about accountability. agent brian terry is dead, protecting our border, and 5 3 days later the -- 563 days later the terry family still does not know why it occurred. what they do know is that the very agency that initiated fast and furious, the department of

justice, under attorney general eric holder, called the operation fatally flawed and then the wagons got circled. it's about theseparation of powers. as uncomfortable as it may be at times, it's a fundamental tenet and sength of our democracy that congress is given not just the power but the responsibility to exercise its duty -- oversight over the executive, especially when by their own admission things have gone glaringly wrong. because the justice department has stubbornly resisted the tempt inquiries of congress, over operation fast and furious, there's so much we do not know. but because whistle blowers within the department of justice were outraged mischaracterizations, there is a great deal that we do know. what we do know is that we have been dealing with a systematic

effort to deflect attention away from the decisions and determinations that were made at the highest levels of the dertment of justice where information was brought directly to individuals at the highest levels of the department of justice, information that was contained in wiretap affidavit that laid out in explicit detail the matters related to fast and furious. mr. speaker, there is a famous quotation in the department of justice about the responsibility of the attorney general not being to win cases but to assure that justice is pursued and retained. mr. speaker, it is incumbent and a responsibility on this house do what is required to do in this circumstance and to support the request that we be given the documents to obtain the facts that will allow us to draw the conclusions which i

believe allow us to get to th bottom of this. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, i yield to the distinguished gentleman from illinois, mr. quigley, two minutes. the speaker prtempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. mr. quigley: thank you, mr. speaker. those bringing this contempt vote say they want to talk about gunwalking and how to stop it. ok, let's have that conversation. they say they want to stop gun trafficking and keep our.t.f. agents safe. well, then, let's properly fund the a.t.f. which is the same number of agents since 1970. they say they want to stop gun trficking. then appoint a permanent a.t.f. director which the agency hasn't had in six years. they say they want to stop gun trafficking, let's pass some laws which actually deter straw purchasers. straw purchasers concurrently buy thousands of ak-47's, lie on their paperwork, and the penalty is equivalent to a moving violation. they say they want to stop gun

trafficking, let's give the agents what they have been asking for, the ability to track multiple purchases of long guns. these long guns include ak-47's, assault weapons, and 50 caliber semiautomatic sniper rifles, the weapons of choice for international drug cartels. they say they want to stopun trafficking, let's close the gun show loopholehich currently allows anyone to purchase any gun they want without a background check. felons, domestic violee abusers, those with severe mental illness, even those on the terrorist watch list can currently walk into a gun show and purchase any gun they want. 2,000 guns were allowed to walk to mexico, but the truth is tens of thousands of guns a cross our border every year because of those lax gun laws. those bringing this contempt vote don't want to havehis conversation and aren't serio about stopping gun trafficking. they simply want to embarrass the administration, even though

the committee's 16-month investigation found no evidence the attorney general knew about gunwalking, even though there is no evidence the white house involvement in gunwalking, all of which chairman issa admitted on national tv last week. so if we are going to talk about gun trafficking, let's be clear, this is about politics not safety. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentman from california. immigration and customs enforcement mr. speaker, the -- the gentleman from texas. mr. issa: mr. speaker, this is the refusal of turning over documents, not whether or not it was his lieutenants or he who was involved in fast and furious. with that i'd like to recognize the distinguished former chairman of the judiciary committee, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. sensenbrenner, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. sensenbrenner: mr. speaker, this isn't about politics. this is about the constitution. and it's about congress' map

date to do oversight -- mandate to do oversight over both executive and judicial branches of government. the president is asserting executive privilege to attempt to shield these documents. and he is relying on a type of primpling called the deliberative process privilege. however, that privilege disappears when congress' investigating evidence of wrongdoing. and in 1997 the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit wrote in part, moreover, the privilege disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe that government misconduct s occurred. in another case, it was decided by the first cirit in 1995, it says that the grounds that shielding internal government deliberations in this context does not serve the public interest in honest, effective government. there has been misconduct that's already a matter of public record in two instances.

the justice department wrote senator grassley in january of 2011 saying that the a.t.f. sanction gunwalking across the border was false and it took them nine months to retract that letter. so they also led congress, and then nine months later they said, oops. maybe he with did mislead congress and we'll withdraw the letter. and in may, 2011, the attorney general testified before the diciary committee that he first heard of operation fast and furious a few weeks bore the hearing. over sixonths later, he conceded that he should have said a few months. now, this very clearly shows that congress has got the proliferation to get the -- to the bottom of this, and that the assertion of the executive privilege by the president and

the attorney general is not based in law. we ought to go ahead and do our job and do our oversight, and it's too bad that the justice department has decided to try to obstruct congress' ability to do it. pass the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i yield to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, two minutes. the speaker pro tempe: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. connolly: the 112th congress is the first in history to hold a cabinet member in contempt. when they say it's not about politics, you can be sure it's about politics. the majority's irresponsible and unprecedented contempt vote brings dishonor to this house which has been so clouded in judgment, that it's incapable of addressing a fundamental separation of powers conflict in a serious and fair fashion.

in refusing to engage in good faith negotiations with the department of justice and the attorney general, the majority has exposed this contempt citation for what it really is, an extraordinarily shameful political witch-hunt aimed at trashing an honorable man. it's unacceptable. we're rushing to the floor, this unprecedented contempt resolution. yesterday, ranking member cummings sent a letter to the speaker highlighting 100 errors, omissions, mischaracterizations of fact contained in the contempt citation itself. rushed out of our committee last week on a party line ve. although some of the contempt citations flaws are simply misleading, others have significant legal deficiencies and they contain factual errors that call into question the contempt citation itself. for example, on pages 4 and 5, the charges senior oicials at the departmenof justice headquarters ultimately approved and authorized operation fast and furious. however, the consempt citation fails to mention the committee

hasn't covered no evidence -- contempt citation fails to mention the committee sn't covered no evidence. on pages 16, 17, 19, 0, 21, 22, 25, 26 and 27, the contempt citation with not producing a series of document that the chairman only recently acknowledged, the department is prohibited by law from providing due to the potential impact on ongoing prosecutions. in fact -- i would ask the gentleman for an extra 20 seconds. mr. cummings: i yield the gentleman 20 seconds. mr. connolly: you had to his own subpoena to delete documents in this own category but his contempt citation has not caught up with his most recent version of his spoena. clearly the majority has not taken the necessary time to properly weigh this very serious charge. regrettabl this deeply flawed

and shoddy contempt citation is emblem attic of the majority's reckless rush to judgment throughout this process. i have been deeply troubled of some of e very hostile questioning and the utter and complete lack of respect given to the attorney general of the united states. when this chapter of congressional history is written, it will be not a brave ining moment. it will be seen for what it is, a craven, crass, partisan move that brings dishonor to this body, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the ti of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i now yield one minute to the very distinguished and very always participating member of the committee from new york, ms. buerkle. the spear pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for one minute. ms. buerkle: i thank the gentleman for his steadfast work on behalf of truth and trying to get to the bottom of fast and furious. mr. speaker, syracuse, new york, in the heart of my district, is roughly 2,500

miles from rico rico, arizona, where border patrol agent brian terry was tragically shot and killed by an ak-47 assault rifle that the united states knowingly allowed into the hands of a suspected gun trafficker. yet, every time i'm home, it is the issue first and foremost on the mind of my constituents. i listen to their calls, to their emails and our town halls. they want to know what happened, who knew what and when did they know it. they ask me, they ask washington, they ask the department of justice, how could the united states government, the pillar of hope and freedom, allow for one of their own representatives, one of their own good guys to be so helessly gunned down by a suspected crimal? mr. speaker, i'm embarrassed to say after 56 days i still

don't have -- 562 days i still don't have an answer for them. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. ms. buerkle: may i have one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 1 seconds. ms. buerkle: is this the hope that the americans were supposed to believe in? out of the supposedly most transparent government in the history of our nation? it is my hope, mr. speaker, that the district court judge will see through the attorney general's contempt of congress after it is passed in the house today. however, we must not be mistaken, even if the attorney general is prosecuted, the case is not closed. we must not forget that guns leaked through this program -- the eaker pro tempore: the time of the gentledy has expired. mr. issa: i yield the gentlelady 10 seconds. ms. buerkle: mr. speaker, after today's vote we must continue our effort to find more answers than there are questions relating to this

administration's catastrophic fast and furious. the american people deserve the answer and the family of border patrol agent brian terry as well. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has exred. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: thank you very much. i yield the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, two minutes, a member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. clay: mr. speaker, as a member of the oversight committee, i know that the gunwalking operations conducted by the a.t.f. under both the evious and current administrations were absolutely wrong. but the leadership of this house is focused on shameful election-year political posturing instead of the real issue. the justice department long ago ended the practice of allowing these guns to walk across the border, putting communities in

mexico at great risk, but the same people who have relelessly pursued a baseless partisan attack on attory general holder and the president have ignored the desperate pleas of the mexican government. to strengthen american gun laws and curb trafficking that gave rise to the strategy in the first place. but focusing in on the rea issue would take time away from them playing politics with the oversight authority. those on the other side of the aisle claim to be concerned about powerful assault weapons crossing the border into mexico illegally. but how can they be completely fine with those same powerful assault weapons being sold right here in this country legally putting our cmunities at even greater risk?

this is more -- nothing more than a political witch-hunt. the disaceful posturing that i have witnessed at last week's markup is continuing on the floor today. i agree it never should have come to this, but we are here debating this resolution solely because of the majority. they created the scandal and produced a showdown during an election season just to spear an honorable public servant and to embarrass his boss. i urge my colleagues to reject this partisan, unprecedented resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. it's now my honor to yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house, john boehner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio, the speaker of the house, is recognized. the speaker: i want to thank my colleague for yielding. it's important for the american

people to know how we got here and to know the facts of this case. the congress asked the justice department for the facts related from the fast and furious and the events that led to the death of u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. the justice department did not provide the facts and the information that we requested. instead, the information came from people outside the department, people who wanted to do the right thing. in addition to not proving the information, the administration admitted misleading congress, actually detracting a letter it had sent 10 months earlier. i think all the members understand this is a very serious matter. the terry family wants to know how this hpened and they have every right to have their answers and the house needs to know how this happened and it's

our constitutional duty to find out. so the house oversight and government reform committee issued a lawful and narrowly tailored subpoena. we've been patient, giving the justice department every opportunity to comply so that we can get to the bottom of this for the terry family. we have shown more than enough good faith, but the white house has chosen to invoke executive privilege. that leaves us no other options. the only recourse left of the house is to continue seeking e truth and to hold attorney general in contempt of congress . now, i don't take this matter lightly, and i would frankly hope it uld never come to this. the house's focus is on jobs and the economy, but no justice department is above the law and no justice department is above the constitution which each of us have sworn an oath to

uphold. so i ask the members of this body to come together and to support this resolution so that we can seek the answers that the terry family and the american people deserve. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: let me just say -- i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cummings: let me say in response to the speaker we too are saddened by the death of border patrol agent brian terry who gave his life, service to his country on december 15, 2010. but, mr. speaker, despite -- but despite what my colleagues have claimed, this contempt vote is not about getting documents that show how gunwalking was initiated and utilized in operation fast and furious. the only documents in dispute are documents created fast and furious ended and after brian

terry's death, but we pledge to continue to find all the answers with regard to the death of brian terry. with that i yield the distinguished gentleman from masshusetts, mr. lynch, two minutes, a member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two mines. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. i would add that we have 31 democrats that signed a letter to the department of justice and to the white house in the aftermath of agent terry's death to fully cooperate in this investigation. however, i rise introng opposition to this contempt resolution. while criticism of the department of justice for oversight of the so-called gun walking operation during both the bush administration and the current administration, criticism may be warranted, a

finding of contempt against a sitting attorney general of the united states is most certainly not. and determining whether this house should hold our highest ranking national law enforcement officer in contempt congress, let us remember that up until last week, the majority of our committee had been demanding the production of documents that our attorney general is legally prohibited from disclosing. and that has caused much of the delay here. in other words, mr. holder would have broken the law and likely compromised existing criminal prosecutions if he adhered to the majority's unreasonable request for materials relating to ongoing criminal investigations, federal wiretap communications and under judicial seal and dumonts also subject to grand jury secrecy rules. let us also be mindful we are considering the extent of cooperation or noncooperation of an attorney general who has appeared before congress on nine separate occasions, whose

justice department has produced over 7,600 pages of documents to oversight investigators and who continues to offer significant accommodations to extraordinary and ever-changing requests for information. the majority continues to deny any and all democratic requests to publicly question, under oath, law enforcement officials including former director of the a.t.f. ken melson, the head of the very agency that held the gun walking operations such as fast and furious. it's clear that what began as a legitimate and compelling committee oversight investigation has deteriorated -- mr. cummings: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. mr. lynch: in closing i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to oppose this contempt resolution and i yield the -- yield back the balance of time.

the eaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. walberg. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walberg: there is no joy in today's action but the fact remains, 18 months after u.s. border patrol agent brian terry was murdered, the justice department has failed toold anybody accountable for the mistakes of operation fast and furious. as a member of the oversight and government reform committee, i have witnessed firsthand the stone wall big the department of justice and attorney general holder. at every question, the justice department has refused to acknowledge what they know about the gun walking tactics that led to agent terry's death. most recently, they have hid behind the president's erroneous claims of executive privilege, an action the president denounced as lacking transparency when he was campaigning. the department has stood in open defiance of congress' moral and constitutional

obligation to conduct oversight of this affair. the family of agent terry deserves to know who approved fast and furious. they have the right to know who had the power to stop this program before he was murdered and they need an explanation as to why the department of justice took nine months to withdraw their false denial that they had ever let guns walk to mexico. to some on the other side of the aisle -- the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. issa: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walberg: to some it seems fine that the people who authorized this operation still work in the department of justice. they would rather play politics rather than uphold congress' right to investigate. this is about making sure another 2,000 firearms don't end up in the hands of mexican drug cartels and it's about bringing closure to the try family. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and honor the

memory of brian terry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from m.d. mr. cummings: i yld to the distinguished gentleman from m.d., mr. hoyer, four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland, the minority whip, is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, this is a sad day for the house of representatives. it is an irresponsible day for the house of representatives. it is a day in which the majority party asked us to take an action that has never been taken in the history of america. never once holding a cabinet officer contempt.

of the -- in contempt of the congress. now there have been previous contempt citations. some promoted by democratic committees and some promoted by republican committees. the average time between committee action and conseration on the floor of the house is 87 days. time to reflect on an extraordinarily important action. with consequences beyond the knowledge of anybody sitting here today. now i want to tell the chairman with all due respect, i think this investigation has been extraordinarily superficial. i think the chairman has failed to call witnesses that could in fact give relevant, cogent testimony. -- testimony on the issues to bear. that ought to be done. that is why i will strongly

support the motion of the gentleman from michigan, mr. dingell, who has served here longer than any of the rest of us, and who is one of the strongest gun control rights supporters in this congress, and what his motion says is, let us reflect, let us bring thoughtful judgment, let us not every time that there is the opportunity to choose confrontation over cooperation and consensus. that has been the history of this congress. competition over consensus every time. and america is suffering because of it. i ask my friends on the republican side of the aisle, who know me, to be a bipartisan member of this body. that believes in this institution. and who cares about its aions and the precedent they will

set. don't do this. vote for this motion to refer. give the chairman they have opportunity he should have taken before to have a full hearing, calling former attorney general mccasey, calling the former head of the a.t.f. calling agents who were personally involved in this proceeding. i venture to say that there are very few members who will vote on this issue who have read the committee proceedings. very few members who have read the minority report or the majority report. yet they are about to take a historic vote to do what has never been done by any congress, 111 congresses did not take this action. this is not about republicans or democrats. this is about our constitution.

our country. our respect. for a nation of laws not of men. that's what this bill is about. we oug not to be voting as republicans and democrats. we ought to be voting americans. americans committed to justice and fair process. i regret that i do not believe this committee has followed that. i believe that the political motivations mind this resolution are clear and pose a clear and present danger to this nation. may i have 30 additional seconds? mr. mcgovern: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman from massachusetts.

when we vote on this referral, vote as americans, not as a partisan issue. you may have the attorney general in the future. it's not the question of the party of the attorney general. it is the question of whether or not this congress is going to provide for equal treatment of all attorneys general. and all cabinet officers. let us vote for this motion to refer and give the committee the opportunity it should take. let us vote down this motion. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. hoyer: let us vote down the motions for contempt. mr. speaker, i now yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from calornia is recognized. mr. issa: mr. speaker, it is now my honor to yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona, an active participant and from the district from

which this event sprung, mr. go czar. -- mr. gosar. mr. gosar: finding the attorney general in contempt of congress is long overdue, welcome ns for the merp people and especially for arizonans. as i explained, mr. holder has shown his contempt and utter disdain for our constitutional rights, our border, arizonans and all americans. 115 members of congress agree that americans lack confidence in mr. holder and his department. every member of congress should do their constitutional duty and hold the attorney general in contempt today. the people of arizona, california, new mexico, and texas who deal with the unsecure borders and violent mexican cartels on a regular basis now must also live in fear of the firearms. some have said these charges against attorney general eric holderer racially motivated and i couldn't disagree more.

the violent cartels armed by our government have no regard for party i.d. or race. throughout our nation and specifically in arizona, folks are all political parties and all races are now living in danger of this lethal violence due to the actions of this administration. make no mistakes about it, today's vote is to deliver justice and accountability for the brian terry family and the over 300 mexicans who have died as a result of fast and furious. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has ex-priored. mr. cummings: i yield the gentleman from m.d. 30 second. mr. hoyer: in 2009, our speaker stood on this floor outraged about the process. we, too, areout raged about the process. will not stand for this. i would ask my house republican colleagues and those who believwe should be here protecting the american people, protecting our constitution, not vote on this bill, let's

just get up and leave. my colleagues may well follow that advice. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield myself 10 seconds. i have no doubt the gentleman will walk off the floor but his motion is asking us also to delay into an election getting an answer for the terry family. i know that is not the wise course and i stongly support that we do this today and with that, i yield one minute to the gentleman from idaho, mr. labrador. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. labrador. -- mr. labrador: i stand with a heavy heart in support of this resolution of contempt. it puts us one step closer to holding the attorney general accountable. he has not only failed to produce relevant dumont -- dock yulet, he has misled this

congress and prevented us from uncovering the truth. how can the members of the minority say that an instigation is superficial when we don't even have all the documents? when the attorney general was before the committee on oversight last year, i brought to light his historical pattern of willful ignorance, high temperaturing his lack of knowledge under oath. he knows nothing, he says nothing, and he seeks for nothing. never in my life have i met a man more unconcerned with the search for the truth. i have sense become even more disturbed by the depths to which mr. holder and his alryes -- allies will sink to stone wall justice. yes, this is an uns prekented day, i agree with you. but not until now have we had an attorney general have to retract so many statements made to the congress of the united states, the duly elected representatives of the people of the uted states. let us vote to support this motion for contempt and i yield back my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: may i inquire how much time both sides have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from m.d. has -- from maryland has 6 1/4 minutes remain, the gentleman from california has 11 1/4 minutes remaining. mr. cummings: i grant to mrs. maloney two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, the family of brian terry deserves our respect, our condolences and our best efforts to finish the mission, to put an end to gun violence on the southern border. but instead of going after gun violence, this investigation has gone after the man that tried to stop the gun violence, the attorney genal. chairman issa has acknowledged that attorney general holder

did not know about the gunwalking operation. he has acknowledged that the president and the white house did not know about the gunwalking operation. both the white house and the attorney general have acknowledge that the gunwalking operation was a tragic mistake, that it was badly executed and that it originated under the brucks -- under the bush administration. it was attorney general holder that terminated the prram and requested an extensive investigation of the operation and how it was conducted. and the documents that they are now requesting in this vast and -- in this fast and furious investigation have absolutely nothing to do with gunwalking. if they were really interested in discovering the truth, the committee would have called kenneth nelson, head of the

a.t.f., as a witness. the chairman refused 10 requests for mr. melson. the republicans have not granted one single democratic witness request in 16 months, not one. this inot about discovering the truth. this is about politics. this has become an obsessive political vendetta for pursuing a political agenda in a season of ugly politics. if they were serious about ending gun violence, they would do what many a.t.f. agents have suggested and put some teeth in the law and that is why i authored with my colleagues a bill to make gun trafficking a federal offense and strengthen penalties for straw purchases. this unprecedented contempt citation is politics at its worse and why this body is held

in such low esteem. mr. issa: i ask the statement by the terry family be placed in the record at this ti. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, it will be placed in the record. mr. issa: i'm sure the gentlelady from new york recognizes the right of a minority hearing has not been exercised and that would have been answered the questions a they are well aware of bringing kenneth melson before the committee. they did not exercise their right. with that i yield a minute to the gentleman from florida, the senior member of the committee, mr. mica. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute. mr. mica: thank you for yielding. when the founding fathers created our government and established the committees in congress, that authorizing committees -- they had authorizing committees, they had appropriating committees. the predecessor of this committee was established for a fundamental reason and that's to make certain that programs

and funding were properly executed and used by agencies created by congress. congress created the law that created the department of justice. congress funded the programs that are under the deptment of justice. it's our resnsibility to investigate when things go wrong, and things went wrong. an agent of the united states was murdered with weapons which were funded by the agency that we created. all we have asked for is the documents. all we want are the facts, and we have been thwarted. eric holder, attorney general of the united states, the highest judicial enforcement officer of the united states, has been in contempt, is in contempt and is showing contempt for the congress and the responsibility under the constitution of this important committee of congress. i urge adoption of the contempt

resolution against the attorney general. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. e gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, i grant the gentleman from california, mr. schiff, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. schiff: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i se in strong opposition to these contempt resolutions. i spent six years as an assistant u.s. attorney and i have greated a mir mation and respect for the hardworking men and women of the department. i have great respect for our attorney general who i think has been a superb attorney general and is a man of integrity. i like most americans would like to know about the facts of fast and furious, about the problem of guns crossing our border, the horrendous violence south of our borde but what we do today will shed no ligh on tt. what we do today will not improve the situation in terms of gun violence that's claimed the lives of 10's of thousands of -- tens of thousands of mexican citizens and claimed

the lives of americans. what we are doing today is mply a partisan abuse of the contempt power. 13% of the american people think highly of congress and to date those 13% are wondering why. what we do will cause no injury to the department, but it will cause great injury to this house. the justice department, after providing 8,000 documents and extensive testimony, is now being required to turn over privilegedaterials. and like all administrations before it, it has reluctantly used the executive privilege to respectfully refuse to provide materials it cannot provide. and so now here we are bringing a contempt motion against the attorney general which our committee chairman acknowledges was not aware of fast and furious. they don't expect any documents

to show you about fast and furious and yet are going to hold this cabinet officials in contempt? that is an outrageous abuse of the contempt wer. what will happen when this congress actually needs to use the contempt power for legitimate purpose? will anyone still recognize it? i urge the speaker to withtraw this motion as indeed speaker gingrich withdrew the motion in his stay and let the parties work this out. we both know, demoats and republicans, how this will end. it will end months from now. let's end this partisan exercise now. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. schiff: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i yield myself 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. issa: i respect my colleague from california. we came into congress together some 12 yearsgo, but the fact is he talked everything except

the fact that congress was lied to in a letter. 10 months went by. we're only asking for information about the false statements made to congress during there intervening period and nothing more. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. issa: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i yield to the leader, ms. pelosi, 30 seconds. one minute. sorry. the speaker pro tempore: the minority leader is recognized. ms. pelosi: i thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i commend him for his extraordinary patriotism, for his commitment to upholding our oath of office to protect and defend the constitution and for recognizing full well the congressional role of oversight of all branches of government. i think we all share that view that congress has a legitimate

role to play in oversight and thus your committee has so much jurisdiction and i respect that. i think we all also agree -- i think we all very, very much agree that we are very sad and seek justice for the family of border patrol agent brian terry . his loss is a tragedy for all who knew him, for all of us who care about him and we offer our condolences to his family. so sad. but that's not what we're here to debate. what we agree upon. what we're here to debate is something very, very large because it is a major disagreement between the two sides of the aisle here, and

i'm sorry to say that, about what our responsibilities are to the constitution of the united states. the constitution says -- it requires congress and the gleck tif branch to avoid unnecessary -- gleck tif branch to avoid unnecessary conflict and seek accommodations that serves both interests. that's how the constitution guides us. as attorney general william smith who served under esident ronald reagan said, the accommodation required is not simply an exchange of concessions or a test of political strength. it is an obligation of each branch to take -- to make a principled effort to acknowledge and if possible to meet the legitimate needs of the other branch. mr. speaker, on the floor today , the republicans in congress are not taking a principled --

making a principled effort to acknowledge or meet the legitimate needs of the other branch. what theare doing is exoiting a very unfortunate circumstance for reasons that i cannot even characterize so i won't, but i will say this. without any fear of contradiction, the premise -- the basic premise that this debate is predicated on today is a false premise. it's factually not true. how many more ways can i say that? and so we have a debate predicated on a false premise and what can that lead to that has any good outcome?

it is a situation where we have a contempt of congress resolution against a sitting cabinet member which is the first time in the over 200-year history of our country that this has ever happened. again, whats the movation? secondly -- and that's why i quoted the constitution -- this motion is not a principled effort to resolve the sue. if it were we would not able to measure in hours and days, not ev weeks, rush the railroading of a resolution of a contem of congress that the republicans passed last week and are bringing this week to the house floor. i say this because i took

considerable heat myself when we brought contempt charges against two staff people at the white house. josh bolten and harriet miers 4 1/2 years ago. we were asking for some papers. we got nothing. as i say to my friends, not even a wrapper off of a piece of gum. nothing. stonewall. nothing. and yet our chairman at the time of the judiciary committee, mr. conyers, and our house leadership, mr. hoyer and others, kept saying, find a way . exhaust every remedy so that we do not have to take this action of bringing a contempt charge to the floor of the house. for over 200 years -- 200 days -- for over 200 days we tried, weried, we tried to resolve

the situation. and when we could not we brought it to the floor, two staff people at the white house. in stark contrast to the rush of one week to the next, not even factual charge against the attorney genal of the united states. it may just be a coincidence. i don't know. that the attorney general of the united states, the chief legal officer of the country, have the responsibility to fight voter suppression, which is going on in our country, that he has refused to defend the constitutionality of doma because he doesn't believe it's constitutional or has major disagreements on immigration

which falls under -- enforcement of immigration law. and may just be a coincidence that those are part of his responsibilities. or maybe it isn't. but the fact is that the chief legal officer of our country, and his staff, have to spend enormous energy, psychic, intellectual, and time, dealing , dealing with this unprincipled effort on the part of the republicans. just when you think you have seen it all, just when you think they couldn't possibly go any further over the edge, they come up with something like this. it's stunning. it really is. and i don' mean that as in

it's beautiful. it's stunning. it stops you in your tracks. you say how far will they go? ha they no limits? apparently not. and so the temptation is to say , let's just ignore the whole thing. do not dignify what they are doing by even being present on the floor and they do -- when they dthis heinous act. first time in the history of our country to bring a contempt against the cab -- against a cabinet officer. you would think they'd be more careful about what they say, but being careful about what they say is aparently not part of their agenda. and so i know in our caucus, there's a mixed response to this. they're acting politically, we should act politically.

we shouldn't vote on this, i want to vote no. i think members have to make their own decision about that. i'm very moved by the -- i'm very moved by the efforts of our congressional black caucus to say that they're going to walk out on th. walk out on this. and perhaps that's the best approach for us to take. how else can we impress upon the american people without scaring them about what is happening here? what is happening here? what is happening here? it's shaful. what is happening here is something we all have an obligation to speak out

against. because i'm telling you, it's eric holder today, it's anybody else tomorrow, any charge they can drum up. and the fact is, and has been said, the fact is that the papers that they have seen, they know are exculpatory. that means there's no blame on the attorney general. and they know that. and that's why they don't want to bring those responsible for this before their committee and that's why i commend chairman dingell for his leadership and the motion he will bring to the floor momentarily, a motion of referral. so that we can get to the bottom of this. so that we can see howhis happens. so that we can offer some solace to brian terry's family.

and so that we can have some sense of decey about what should happen on the floor of the house and when it goes -- it sms to me theore baseless the charge, the higher up they want to go with the coempt. the less they have to say that is real, the higher up they want to bring the contempt charge. i have always tried to make it a habit of not questiing the motivation of people. they believe what they believe. we believe what we believe. and we act upon our beliefs. it always interested me that in this congress somebody can this congress somebody can