[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 119 (Friday, July 21, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S10472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ETHICS COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARINGS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to take just a moment to respond 
to the distinguished Senator from California [Mrs. Boxer], who has been 
working to achieve public hearings on the sexual misconduct case 
against Senator Packwood.
  Mr. President, on July 10, several Senators wrote to me and the vice 
chairman urging the committee to convene public hearings. Several days 
later, my friend from California wrote to us on her own to inform us if 
the Ethics Committee had not voted to hold public hearings within a 
week of her July 14 letter, she would seek a vote of the full Senate on 
the issue of public hearings in the Packwood case.
  Today, the Senator said that if the committee has not met by the 
close of business today, she will bring her legislation to the floor at 
the first opportunity next week.
  Mr. President, I think I speak for all committee chairmen and 
chairwomen as well as previous chairmen and chairwomen when I say our 
committee schedule and agenda must not be dictated by another Senator. 
As strongly as the Senator from California believes there should be 
hearings in the Packwood case, I strongly believe that the Ethics 
Committee's timetable must not be set by a single Senator.
  One thing is certain. The Ethics Committee will not meet today and 
will not schedule a future meeting today. We will not respond to any 
attempts to threaten the committee. If we open the door to that, in the 
future there could well be numerous efforts to bring ethics matters to 
the full Senate, and that is a dangerous road to take, Mr. President.
  The committee would like to complete work on the Packwood case but 
perhaps everyone needs a cooling-off period. As long as Senator Boxer's 
threat remains, the cooling-off period will continue.
  The one issue Senator Boxer and I agree upon is that the case before 
the committee is a serious one. It is one which has commanded the 
attention of committee members for countless hours over the last 2\1/2\ 
years. The committee members have labored long and hard, and they know 
much more about this case than any other Member of the Senate.
  There is much to say about the Packwood case. Now is not the time to 
say it. I can assure my colleagues and the Senator from California that 
at the appropriate time, I will speak fully about the case and about 
the committee's work. At that time, I hope my colleagues will have a 
better understanding of the significance and the dimension of the 
matter.
  The Senator's efforts are ill-informed and badly timed. After all, 
the committee lost practically a year in a legal dispute over obtaining 
Senator Packwood's diary as evidence in the case. If Senator Boxer 
takes us on another such frolic and detour, it will only further 
distract us and prevent us from concluding this important case, and it 
will interfere with the Senate's agenda and the work the American 
people sent us here to do.
  So if we find ourselves on the floor in the coming days debating 
legislation regarding hearings in the Packwood case or any other 
subject related to Ethics Committee procedures, I will be prepared, and 
I am sure others will be prepared, to discuss and debate congressional 
action on misconduct cases in the past and other relevant issues.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. SPECTER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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