[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 14, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      WHITE HOUSE PLAYING POLITICS

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, after weeks of denial from both the White 
House and the Department of Justice that politics played no part in the 
firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, the Attorney General finally admitted 
yesterday that there is more to the story.
  It was an embarrassing and disturbing set of e-mails between the 
White House's political operatives and Gonzales's chief of staff that 
clearly revealed that there were political concerns involved in the 
political purge, or firing. The chief of staff resigned after e-mails 
were released to the New York Times and the Washington Post, but 
questions still remain unanswered.
  What about those at the top? Is it plausible that the Attorney 
General was unaware of the actions of his own chief of staff? When is 
the President going to hold members of his Cabinet accountable for 
misdeeds and mistakes?
  The Attorney General's office is supposed to be above politics. An 
independent judiciary is one of the hallmarks of this great democracy 
which we, as Americans, promote around the world. There is simply no 
place for politics at the Justice Department. But sadly, it appears 
that the Justice Department has become a pawn of the Republican Party.

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