[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         HEARINGS ON WHITEWATER

  (Mr. LAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to salute my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle in this House for 
reconsidering their initial position and finally agreeing to hold 
congressional hearings on Whitewater. The House has now joined the 
Senate in seeing the wisdom, if not the inevitability, of congressional 
hearings on this matter.
  It is vitally important to the country that the President get this 
behind him, and the sooner the better. The surest and quickest way to 
do that is to let the sun shine, and the best way to make that happen 
is through the constitutionally appropriate role of congressional 
hearings.
  From Nannygate to Travelgate to Whitewater, the continuing ethical 
struggles within the Clinton administration, made worse by their murky 
explanations, provide ample evidence that this White House still has a 
lot to learn. The upcoming hearings will facilitate that process.
  Without the full disclosure that hearings can provide, Congress and 
the administration are more likely to become preoccupied with 
Whitewater and bog down on other, far more important issues--issues 
like health reform, crime, and welfare reform.
  With or without hearings, Whitewater may become a convenient 
scapegoat for inaction on other, more important issues. But if we do 
get bogged down, at least it will be in spite of the Whitewater 
hearings, not because of them.

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