[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL STATUTE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, as Congress this week begins the debate on 
reinstating the independent counsel law, I think, as a student of 
history, it is interesting to review what has taken place regarding 
that law.
  Regarding congressional action on that matter certain questions are 
raised:
  Should an administration investigate itself?
  Should the alleged wrongdoing of a major administration official be 
left to the attorney general or to a special counsel or an independent 
counsel?
  Those are the questions that are now being asked as we face the 
expiration of the current independent counsel law.
  Some say the problem is the law, some say the problem is the 
independent counsel. It is interesting to note, if we review history, 
what goes around comes around both in law and also in politics. A brief 
review of the independent counsel law, if folks would just take a 
moment to do that, reveals that we are about to return to where we 
started if the independent counsel law is not renewed.
  Mr. Speaker, even in 1972, President Nixon suggested the appointment 
of a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal. As we 
know from history, President Nixon in 1973 also ordered the Attorney 
General to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Those actions led 
Congress and President Carter to enact in 1973 an Ethics in Government 
Act. All totaled, the special prosecutor law was invoked 11 times from 
1978 to 1982 with three appointments of special prosecutors.
  In 1983, that law was revised and renewed for another 5 years. In 
1987, with the Iran-Contra statute, when it came up for 
reauthorization, and although it gave great heartburn, President Reagan 
in December of 1987 signed the reimplementing bill into law. With three 
investigations during the Bush administration, President Bush let the 
statute expire in 1992.
  With a new administration and new scandals, the Attorney General, 
Janet Reno, under the general law authority, appointed Robert Fisk as a 
special counsel, not an independent counsel, but under her general 
authority to investigate Whitewater, and she initiated that action on 
June 30, 1994.
  Vowing to head up an administration with the highest ethical 
standards, President Bill Clinton took the step of being the first 
President since Carter to endorse the institution of an independent 
counsel law. On July 1, 1994, President Clinton signed the 
reauthorization bill and commented about the law, and let me quote from 
the President: ``a foundation stone for trust between the government 
and our citizens.'' He dismissed charges that it had been, and I quote, 
``a tool of partisan attack and a waste of taxpayer funds.'' Instead, 
he said the statute was, and let me quote, ``has been in the past and 
is today a force for government integrity and public confidence,'' end 
quote.
  The Attorney General spoke before Congress, the same Attorney General 
who will be having the Department of Justice advocate the end of the 
independent counsel law, and stressed the government's and her own 
support for the bill, and let me quote what she said:

       As a vehicle to further the public's perception of fairness 
     and thoroughness, and to avert even the most subtle influence 
     of what may appear in an investigation of highly-placed 
     executive officials.

                              {time}  1100

  How interesting it is how the law comes around and goes around. How 
interesting it is that today the shoe is on the other foot. The 
administration is about to advocate the abolition of the Independent 
Counsel law. I think we just need to take a few minutes and look at 
history and see how people have taken various stands, depending on 
whose ox is getting gored.
  I like to reflect on history, and I think this is a little lesson in 
history, particularly as it deals with the appointment of an 
Independent Counsel.

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