[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 55 (Wednesday, May 6, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            REFUSAL TO GRANT IMMUNITY TO FOUR KEY WITNESSES

  (Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, what can Congress do to 
break a stone wall? Many of the key witnesses in congressional 
investigations have either fled the country or taken the fifth 
amendment. Others have hidden behind phony claims of executive 
privilege.
  And if that is not enough, now we have Democrats on the House 
Government Reform and Oversight Committee who refuse to grant immunity 
to four key witnesses; even their own Justice Department consents to 
the granting of immunity to those four key witnesses.
  What is Congress to do? Well, Congress can go to the courts and, 
thus, delay investigations for many more months, while listening to the 
White House and other defenders of this sleaze and obstruction to cry 
with indignation that the investigation is taking too long.
  Mr. Speaker, why is this story not being told? Why cannot everyone, 
Democrats and Republicans alike, agree that no one is above the law and 
that the American people have a right to truthful answers?
  Mr. Speaker, no amount of stonewalling should stand between the truth 
and the American people any longer.

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