[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S1610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               WHITEWATER

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, we should not be asked to consider this 
resolution. Senate Resolution 227 is, to my mind, simply a license to 
continue a wild goose chase, and to do so at the expenditure of public 
funds which could well be spent for true public needs.
  When the Whitewater matter first came before us 2 years ago, I said 
that it involved distant dealings with marginal involvement of Federal 
interests, and that it simply did not rise to the level of scrutiny 
appropriate for Senate inquiry.
  Nothing has happened since to change my initial judgment one iota. 
The Senate investigation has dragged on for 294 days at a cost of $1.34 
million and has not yielded a single result worthy of further action.
  This investigation in my view is an exercise in political harassment. 
Its indefinite continuance would be an embarrassment to the Senate. And 
I might add that continuance of the investigation holds little promise 
of benefit to the majority party, given the widespread public 
indifference to the matter.
  In short, Mr. President, we are being asked to approve not just the 
use of Senate funds but indeed the exploitation of the full 
constitutional authority of the Senate to continue a so-called inquiry 
into matters of little consequence, and to do so for clearly partisan 
purposes.
  (The remarks of Mr. Murkowski pertaining to the submission of Senate 
Concurrent Resolution 43 are printed in today's Record under 
``Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')

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