[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                NEGLECT

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, coverup is a nasty word in Washington. It 
is a powerful word, one that conjures up scandal and sin. It's a word 
that brought down a President.
  I hesitate to use the word ``coverup,'' so I won't when discussing 
the Whitewater affair. Instead, I will use the word 
``neglect.''
  By refusing to hold hearings or mount an investigation into the 
Whitewater affair, the Congress neglects its sacred oversight duty.
  The chairman of the Banking Committee acknowledged yesterday that his 
committee should and will investigate this affair. But he changed his 
story later in the day, no doubt under considerable pressure from the 
White House and the Democratic leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, the Congress investigates many different things every 
year, from the ridiculous to the sublime, from the October surprise to 
BCCI.
  But when it comes to a sordid story that has the Nation's newspapers 
intrigued, the Congress falls strangely quiet. I do not like to use the 
word coverup, but let me say this. We should not neglect our duty to 
investigate this affair.

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