Recommending that Attorney General Eric Holder Be Found in Contempt of Congress

Floor Speech

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this misguided effort to inject the politics of a presidential election year into what should be a serious investigation. I oppose the resolutions to hold the Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal and civil contempt, because they are unwarranted and motivated by politics instead of facts. I voted for a resolution sponsored by Rep. JOHN DINGELL to require the Oversight and Government Committee to conduct a real investigation into the Fast and Furious operation. The American public deserves a legitimate investigation into the actions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Arizona. Members of Congress have a responsibility to ensure that the ATF was abiding by the law and ensure that the ``gun-walking'' programs that took place under the Bush and Obama Administrations do not take place again. The American people deserve answers and they deserve an investigation that is based on fact and the truth, not on political gamesmanship and finger-pointing. Unfortunately, these resolutions are not based on real investigations or the desire to prevent future ``gun-walking'' operations.

This contempt resolution alleges that the Attorney General is not cooperating with the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's investigation. The Attorney General has testified before Congress nine times and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has produced 7,600 pages of documents to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Additionally, two dozen DOJ officials have testified before the Congress. Something lost in the political allegations on cable news is that the documents at issue in the Contempt Citation are not related to the Committee's investigation into how ``gun-walking'' was initiated and utilized in Operation Fast and Furious. Attorney General Holder has turned documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious over to the committee. This contempt citation is over the DOJ's internal deliberative documents unrelated to the actual Fast and Furious operation. This contempt resolution does not list any proof that the Attorney General had any knowledge of the Fast and Furious operation. In fact, when the Attorney General did discover the Fast and Furious program he took action to shut down the operation, held those responsible accountable, requested an investigation by the DOJ's IG office and cooperated with House and Senate investigations. To this day, no evidence has shown that he or the President had any knowledge of the Fast and Furious operation.

What the American people also deserve to know is why the Majority is putting partisan politics above the public's right to a fair and balanced investigation. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee Republicans have not granted a single Democratic witness request in 16 months. If this investigation was on the up and up, it seems that the Democrats should be allowed the opportunity to bring forward at least one witness. In fact, the Republicans refused ten requests by Democrats to hold a hearing with the former Acting Director of the ATF Kenneth Melson. He was in charge of the agency responsible for the Fast and Furious operation. The Majority also rejected requests to have William Hoover, the former Acting Deputy Director of the ATF during Operation Fast and Furious, testify before the committee. They also refused to allow former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to testify about gun-walking programs initiated under the previous administration. I hope that by opposing these resolutions we can have a real congressional investigation into the ATF's ``gun-walking'' operations and pass legislation to ensure that similar operations never happen again. The Dingell Resolution I voted for requires the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold bipartisan public hearings with the Kenneth Melson, William Hoover, Michael Mukasey, and others.

The House of Representatives has never voted to hold a sitting Attorney General in contempt. I don't think Republicans and Chairman Issa have provided us a real reason to do so today. Instead, they have prevented a legitimate investigation from taking place and continue to move the goalpost again and again to demand documents unrelated to the Fast and Furious Operations. Their conduct has revealed they are far more interested in getting Attorney General Holder than getting the facts. This has been a total abuse of power and process. I believe that we should be voting on the President's jobs bill today instead of this misguided and partisan resolution.

I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this resolution.

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