[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, this event is not the basis for which the 
Committee of Inquiry was created because even though there was so much 
harm and possible violation of the voter rights of Americans in Texas, 
that was not what the Committee of Inquiry was gathered to do.

                              {time}  2000

  The committee of inquiry introduced by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Green) was merely to inquire as to whether or not Federal funds, 
resources, or personnel had been used in trying to locate the missing 
members of the Texas legislature during June 11 through June 19, and 
that was all.
  It was claimed by the distinguished majority leader of the House, 
himself from Texas, that this was a Federal matter, and that there was 
a justification because redistricting was involved that the Congress 
had every right to inquire. Whether he is correct or not is not central 
to the question of whether we should determine whether Homeland 
Security resources, whether Federal U.S. marshals, whether members of 
the FBI, whether personnel in the Department of Justice in Washington 
were used in trying to identify the whereabouts of members of the State 
legislature. That is all we wanted to do.
  In an incredible debate, which fortunately has been reported to the 
American people and is preserved for all posterity, in a totally party 
vote, every Republican voted that they did not want to inquire, they 
did not want to know, they did not want to find out if Federal 
resources were used. They did not have any interest in knowing if there 
were any Federal statutes that were broken, whether there were any 
possible violations of the law.
  This is the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States whose 
responsibility it is to protect the Constitution and its amendments and 
preserve democracy for the people of the United States of America, a 
rather striking position, but one that is not over because we did not 
prevail in the great Committee on the Judiciary in the House of 
Representatives.
  This is a matter, as the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) has 
admonished us, is not going away. We are not packing up our tents and 
forgetting about this. We have got to show to people that the 
Department of Justice is accountable, that the FBI is accountable, that 
the United States marshals are accountable and that indeed the Members 
of Congress have a responsibility to know if Homeland Security has now 
been turned into a partisan operation for any purpose that anybody in 
charge happens to think it is.
  This is very important because with this kind of attitude there is 
going to be a great difficulty for the American people to have any 
confidence in Homeland Security whatsoever.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. If the gentleman will remember a COINTELPRO 
was utilized against Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a different 
time. This is a simple inquiry as to whether or not we find ourselves 
with a modern day COINTELPRO of 2003, whether Federal resources were 
used to track civilians who had not violated any law, and as my 
understanding, Dr. King and civil rights activists, it was determined 
that the COINTELPRO was excessive, that he was not a terrorist, he was 
not a threat. If anything, he was healing this land. He was bringing us 
together.
  So I would say that it is appropriate for the FBI, of which we have 
oversight, to themselves want to be known to the United States of 
America as the institution that it is, with high regard for integrity 
and high regard for its commission.

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