Secret Service

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, since the Senate last convened, our Nation has seen two attempts to circumvent the American people's right to choose their leaders.

The first, of course, was the first time in more than a century that a former President of the United States was shot in an attempted assassination. That happened to Theodore Roosevelt.

This murderous assault on our democratic process very nearly robbed millions of Americans of their choice for the next President. It has been reassuring to see Americans united in their horror at this brazen act of political violence. The near-disaster on July 13 violated the trust of the American public, and restoring that trust will require transparency and accountability. I said at the outset that the resignation of the Director of the Secret Service would be an important step in that direction, and I am encouraged she has taken that step today.

The Director is on record describing her agents' responsibilities as ``a zero fail mission.'' Clearly, on July 13, the Secret Service did fail the mission. The important questions now are why and how. Apart from internal inquiries and FBI investigations, Congress's oversight authority entitles us to answers.

Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee spent hours questioning the Director of the Secret Service. Unfortunately, the Senate majority hasn't yet shown any intention of conducting oversight of its own. Democrats who so often express concern about threats to democracy have yet to look seriously at the failures of the Secret Service.

The Judiciary Committee, for its part, appeared to be more concerned with resurrecting failed judicial nominations than getting to the bottom of the first near-assassination of a former President in 100 years. Until earlier today, Chairman Durbin apparently intended to spend the committee's time taking another look at radical Judge Sarah Netburn, a nominee his own committee rejected once for engaging in political activism from the bench and lying about her actions under oath.

It is crickets at the Homeland Security Committee as well. Chairman Peters has three meetings on the calendar for this week but not one about the near-assassination of a former President.

A former President of the United States came within an inch of his life just days ago. An innocent participant in the great tradition of American campaigns was killed, and two other attendees were seriously wounded. The American people deserve to know how this happened and what steps are being taken to ensure that it won't happen again.

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