[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7614-7615]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RELEASE OF ENERGY TASK FORCE RECORDS

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I stand here today to call on Vice 
President Dick Cheney to immediately open his records of his secret 
energy task force meetings and tell the American people the truth about 
who attended those meetings.
  The administration needs to stop fighting this wasteful lawsuit. It 
has cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, that belong 
to the taxpayers. And it has consumed an enormous amount of time with 
the Justice Department and other agencies. Today the case is to be 
heard across the street at the Supreme Court.
  It is not too late for the Vice President to come clean. Just tell 
the American people who attended the secret meetings he held before he 
issued his energy policy which took the form of this very expensive, 
beautiful-colored brochure which has, for example, this picture of 
``Energy for a New Century,'' and it shows an oil rig in the ocean. By 
the way, that is not exactly the energy of the future.
  The time has come for the Vice President to stop the stonewalling. 
Simply tell the truth. Who did he meet with in preparing our Nation's 
energy plan?
  First, the American people have the right to know. The last I 
checked, this

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country was a free country. It is a country where there is access to 
information for the people. We pay the salaries of our President, our 
Vice President, our Senators, our House Members. Unless it is a 
question of the highest national security, the people have a right to 
know how their money is being spent or misspent. Why does the 
administration continue to hide the truth about how its energy policy 
was formed? It is not necessary to be secretive. It is wrong. The 
public needs to know how public policies are formulated.
  To know that, they need to know who was sitting at the table when 
this national energy policy was put together. Who was there? Was it a 
broad array of citizens from all sides of the issue--consumers, 
environmentalists, people from the oil companies, the gas companies, 
the nuclear industry--or was it just one set of people?
  Second, it is time to stop wasting taxpayers' money. The cost of that 
lawsuit across the street is very difficult to pin down. We know the 
General Accounting Office, which tried to force the Vice President to 
reveal who was at the meetings, spent over $300,000 in legal fees to 
fight Dick Cheney's stonewalling. From my office's research, we believe 
attorneys from Justice and the Office of Solicitor General have spent 
thousands of work hours preparing these documents.
  Let me show a chart on what other things these persons could be doing 
other than keeping the meetings that the Vice President had secreted 
from the people. They could have been fighting terrorism by seeking and 
freezing assets of terrorist groups such as Hamas. They could have been 
prosecuting Medicare fraud. They could have been prosecuting drug 
companies that falsify data for FDA drug approval. They could have been 
prosecuting corporations that violate consumer safety laws with toxic 
products. All those things are in the public interest.
  But, no, this Vice President says to these people who work hard every 
day: Just forget about this. We know we said a lot about cracking down 
on terrorism, money laundering. We said a lot about cracking down on 
Medicare fraud and drug company fraud and corporations that violate 
consumer safety laws with toxic products. Just forget it. Defend me. I 
am so important. I am the Vice President and the people have no right 
to know with whom I meet.
  It is outrageous. I want the Justice Department to go after 
criminals, not to keep meetings secret that should be made public.
  The Supreme Court has other things to do as well. They defend our way 
of life, our civil liberties, our human rights. For this court to spend 
its time listening to Mr. Cheney defend his secrecy pulls it away from 
other important issues it could address. It is a waste of the Court's 
time. It is a waste of money.
  I ask unanimous consent for an additional 2 minutes and ask that 
Senator Durbin have an additional 2 minutes as well.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we ask unanimous consent that the majority 
have an additional 2 minutes as well, a total of 2 extra minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, the Senator is 
recognized for an additional 2 minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. Two Federal judges have already found that the 
administration has violated the Freedom of Information Act. Openness is 
an American value. In the end, openness is a way of life. Do you 
remember how Condi Rice was not going to testify because the President 
said that she only reports to him and what she tells him is secret? 
Well, they caved on that one. They caved on that one because that is 
not in the public interest, and the people wouldn't stand for it.
  Do you remember when First Lady Hillary Clinton said she believed she 
didn't have to reveal who was sitting in on the health care task force 
meetings? Well, they were sued. And Hillary Clinton, now Senator 
Clinton, said: OK, OK. Let's not go to court. I will reveal this 
information.
  But not this administration, not Dick Cheney. He has a lot of time to 
bash Senator John Kerry, but he doesn't have time to open up the files 
and show the people who sat in on those meetings that led to the 
formulation of the national energy policy. It is remarkable--someone 
who didn't serve 1 minute, 1 hour in the military is taking on a war 
hero, John Kerry. But he doesn't have time to pay attention to this 
issue on which the New York Times editorialized today and said:

       [The Cheney] case also raises more substantive issues about 
     the degree to which a vice president can claim to be above 
     the law.

  This is a sad day. We already know because the Vice President 
admitted that Ken Lay attended those secret meetings. Yes, he did. Ken 
Lay, the man we are hoping will wind up in prison for defrauding the 
people of California and the people of the west coast of billions of 
dollars. We know he was in the meeting. We also know he handed the Vice 
President a document that said: Don't take any action in California.
  I call on the Vice President, tell the truth. Cut it out. Walk away 
from this case and let the people know with whom you met.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senator from Illinois is recognized for 5 minutes.

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