[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 23, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             LYING AND PHONINESS IN THE FIEFDOM OF ARKANSAS

  (Mr. DORNAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks, and include extraneous 
matter).
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, may I have the attention, please, of my good 
friend, the gentleman from Ohio [Jim Traficant]. I am perfectly willing 
to concede that they will sell a lot of dirt in Arkansas. We learned 
through Tonya Harding the incredible marketability of all this tabloid 
stuff. You're a good man, Jim. I love you.
  However, are you aware that six news organizations, including the 
Associated Press, have joined with the American Association of 
Physicians and Surgeons in an amicus brief because they have new 
evidence of Whitewater-type shenanigans in the Health Care Task Force?
  I love you, Jim.
  That's right, Mr. Speaker, today, the American Association of 
Physicians and Surgeons filed a brief in DC's District Court, further 
expanding on their lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and the Health Care 
Task Force. The brief contains new revelations that show rose-colored, 
Clintonian ethics were not confined to Little Rock or real estate deals 
in the Ozarks, but also ruled the White House's Health Care Task Force.
  It alleges that the President and First Lady violated conflict-of-
interest laws; alleges various high administration officials with 
extensive double-dipping, including new allegations that hundreds-of-
thousands of dollars were funneled to Jocelyn Elders; and reveals the 
previously undisclosed names of task force members allegedly involved 
in influence-peddling and conflicts-of-interest.
  We cannot allow coverups and lies from the administration or coverups 
from anybody in this House. How can we sit back while the Clinton 
administration pushes the Office of the Presidency into the flood 
drainage system of the District of Columbia? The people's House is 
losing what credibility it has left by continuing to cover up the swarm 
of criminal charges and by ignoring the ethical dissipation of the 
White House. It's cultural meltdown.
  I call for an immediate congressional investigation beginning after 
the April break into all of the allegations of task force wrongdoing.
  My Democrat colleagues, when will you act? You are riding in 
whitewaters and the rocks aren't looming, you're already amongst them.
  Mr. Speaker, here is the press release of the AAPS.
     Date: March 23, 1994.
     Time: 10:15 am.
     Location: Grassy Triangle, East Front U.S. Capitol.

New Evidence of Whitewater-Type Tactics in President's Health Care Task 
  Force: White House Stonewalling and Information Withholding Shields 
                          Conflict of Interest

       New briefs will be filed in the lawsuit against Hillary 
     Clinton and the President's Health Care Task Force with 
     evidence of illegal activities and subsequent White House 
     cover-up and stalling will be subject to a news conference 
     with the Executive Director of the Association of American 
     Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), as well as new revelations of 
     the Clinton's financial holdings in health care stocks.
       Dr. Janet Orient, who testified before the Task Force last 
     year, will also discuss evidence of a pattern of conflict of 
     interest and influence-peddling by previously unidentified 
     task force members representing the very commercial entities 
     who stand to make enormous financial gains with 
     implementation of the proposed managed-care plan.
       AAPS will present evidence of misrepresentation of Task 
     Force membership and possible misrepresentation of facts by 
     White House staff.


                               background

       One year ago, the AAPS successfully filed suit to force the 
     Task Force to open their meetings to the public to comply 
     with the Government in Sunshine Act, and to disclose its 
     records.
       The Associated Press and five other news media and 
     professional journalism organizations have filed an amicus 
     brief in support of the AAPS lawsuit.
       On March 19, 1993, the District Court in Washington D.C. 
     handed down an injunction requiring the Task Force to comply 
     with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The Act was 
     designed to protect the public from the unregulated use of 
     advisory committees where special interest groups may use 
     their membership on such bodies to promote their private 
     concerns.
       But that ruling was overturned when former White House 
     Counsel Bernard Nussbaum argued the Act did not apply to the 
     Task Force, as he and Ira Magaziner claimed that all members 
     were full time government employees.
       Instead of complying with the law by producing the records 
     and publishing timely meeting notices in the Federal 
     Register, Nussbaum then launched an aggressive defense of the 
     secret war room, while Vince Foster signed public notices for 
     the Federal Register only after the meetings took place.
       After several months, AAPS went back into court when it 
     became apparent the Administration had no intention of 
     producing the documents which would shed light on the closed-
     door deliberations of the Task Force.
       On November 9, 1993, District Court Judge Royce Lambert 
     ordered the White House to produce records of the Task Force 
     documenting its membership, consultants, time and attendance 
     records, travel vouchers, financial disclosure forms and 
     conflict of interest declarations.
       In a sharply worded opinion, Judge Lamberth condemned the 
     Administration's stonewalling as ``improper'' and 
     ``evasive,'' by producing ``dribbles and drabs of information 
     at its convenience.'' Judge Lambeth also cited the White 
     House for providing incomplete and indequate responses for 
     discovery of admissible evidence.
       The White House then produced several boxes of 
     documentation, but only after getting a protective order, 
     withholding them from the public. To this day, Ira Magaziner 
     has refused to respond to the request for his deposition.

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