Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013 - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I rise this evening to discuss a disturbing pattern of behavior, a culture of intimidation that continues to emerge from the Obama administration.

For the past few days, headline after headline has revealed one new controversy after another. In every case Americans are right to wonder what kind of leadership led to this and just how far this culture of intimidation goes.

Americans need to learn the extent to which this misconduct has occurred by the heavy hand of the executive branch of government.

The first indication was on Friday of last week, and it involved the Internal Revenue Service issuing an apology for targeting conservative groups seeking nonprofit status and treating conservative groups more harshly than other groups.

These groups were excessively scrutinized if they used the words ``patriot'' or ``tea party.'' As we would later learn from the inspector general report, not only were these groups targeted, but senior officials knew about it for at least a year and made no report to the Congress. It has also been confirmed that confidential information about some of these groups was leaked to the liberal nonprofit group ProPublica.

The whole situation disgraces the basic constitutional freedoms to which every American is entitled. It is appalling that Americans have been deliberately targeted for IRS scrutiny based on their political beliefs or affiliations. No American should fear arbitrary government harassment simply because of the expression of his or her views.

The administration needs to be held accountable for its failure to protect Americans. An apology is not sufficient in this instance. An internal inspector general investigation talking about mismanagement errors will not suffice in this instance. The acknowledgement that mistakes were made and that changes, indeed, need to be made will not, in and of itself, rebuild the public trust that has been broken.

Particularly troubling is that the IRS is not the only agency in which these types of abuses have occurred. Americans are also right to be outraged by the news that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been fundraising among the industry people she regulates on behalf of the President's health care law.

As reported in the Washington Post on May 10, Secretary Sebelius ``has gone, hat in hand, to health industry officials, asking them to make large financial donations.''

Presumably these donations are being collected in order to pay for an advertising campaign in the media, including television. Further investigation is necessary to determine the extent to which these solicitations constitute a conflict of interest. It is curious that the Secretary of Health and Human Services is seeking support from the health industry now when these affected parties were largely ignored or in many cases intimidated during the debate on the President's health care law.

Meanwhile, questions remain about the administration's handling of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. During his recent news conference, the President tried to deflect serious concerns about altered talking points by calling it a political ``sideshow.'' I do not think the American people are going to be convinced that it is a sideshow. The real sideshow is the President's attempt to distract from an unraveling narrative that began with the administration wrongly casting blame on an inflammatory YouTube video. Subsequent testimony from State Department whistleblowers, who came forward despite administration pressure, has only expanded the controversy surrounding the administration's apparent misrepresentation of the terrorist attack to the American people.

Let's not forget that it was President Obama who promised, after he took office, that his administration would be ``the most open and transparent in history.'' It is increasingly clear that the President's rhetoric does not match this reality.

Whether these scandals continue to make mainstream news, our questions and inquiries will not stop until we get answers. The administration's conflicting storylines and blame games are inexcusable in the wake of serious allegations. In America, those in power are not above the law, and those responsible must be held accountable. A Member of this body on the other side of the aisle asked publicly on the radio this morning: What does it take to get fired in this town? A good question coming from the other side of the aisle.

What we are continuing to see is a culture of intimidation, a pattern of big-government heavyhandedness and overreach by the administration. What is lacking is credibility and integrity from those elected to serve.

Each scandal is distinct in its grievances but not isolated in its impact. A New Yorker article published yesterday by Amy Davidson noted ``the Obama Administration's strange belief that if it can just find the right words, that reality will comply and bend to meet it--that its challenges are so extraordinary that the use of any exceptions built into normal processes should be regarded as unexceptional.''

Americans deserve direct, straightforward answers, and they deserve the facts. They deserve to know why the IRS deliberately targeted conservative groups and gave liberal groups a pass, why Secretary Sebelius solicited the health care industry to help implement ObamaCare, and why the administration downplayed the atrocities in Benghazi and pressured fact witnesses to stay silent. It time for the President and his inner circle to provide a full explanation.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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