[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12438]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ``FIRST OBSTRUCTION, NOW DESTRUCTION''

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, ``There is no more fragile construct than a 
stone wall. In any scandal, the shortest route to safety is always the 
truth.'' [144 Cong. Rec. H1333 (1998)].
  These are the most appropriate words of Majority Leader, Tom Delay. 
And yet one full week after asking the Departments of Homeland Security 
and Justice to come clean about the reported attempts to divert Federal 
resources for purely political purposes in Texas, all we have is that 
very same fragile stone wall.
  The administration obstruction has now turned into State document 
destruction. Borrowing a page from Enron's playbook, State destruction 
has been ordered of all notes, correspondence, photos, et cetera, 
related to the search for Texas legislators; and at the same time, the 
Department of Homeland Security indicates that it has ``no idea how 
long the investigation would take or when the tapes might be 
released.''
  Never known as ``Timid Tom,'' it is time for the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. DeLay) to join us in getting immediate disclosure of all related 
documents and end the stonewalling.

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