[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16509]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LEAKS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, a lot has been made lately about leaks 
coming from the White House, and the outing of CIA Agent Valerie Wilson 
was admittedly an egregious act.
  But I, for one, would like more leaks, not less from this White 
House. And let me quote the President. Bring it on.
  Let me be clear. I am not looking for more of the kind of leaks that 
have tripped up Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. It is generally not a good 
idea to out undercover CIA agents working on behalf of America's 
national security. Those are the types of leaks that can lead to 
unfortunate consequences, like people getting killed and national 
security being breached.
  Even if you leak on double super secret background you might get 
caught. And if there is a special prosecutor involved, well, look out. 
You could end up, as the old cliche in the book says, the former White 
House official is doing time in Allenwood.
  The kind of leaks I am thinking about might include like the real 
cost of the prescription drug bill for Medicare or the secret plan for 
Social Security solvency. Those are the types of leaks that I wish this 
White House would provide and knew. It would have been useful, for 
example, if someone had leaked the true cost of the Medicare 
prescription drug program before Congress had voted to commit future 
generations to twice the obligation we were told.
  Originally they told us that the prescription drug bill would cost 
$394 billion over 10 years. The American people are going to pay $800 
billion. The administration actually kept secret the extra $400 billion 
from the Congress and the American people. And they even threatened to 
fire the government actuary who wanted to just simply tell the truth. 
All along they knew that it was going to be $800 billion and all along 
they repeated that it was $394 billion.
  Now that was the type of leak that is worthy of a good Washington 
leak. And I think I know something about leaks.
  And it certainly would have been nice if some brave soul in the White 
House had told the American people that the President's tax cuts would 
raid the Social Security Trust Fund for $639 billion, explode the 
deficit, all the while benefiting the wealthiest Americans. Instead 
they told us we could have a big tax cut, balance the budget and 
strengthen Social Security. Of course, former Secretary of Treasury 
Paul O'Neill eventually blew the whistle on what the real cost of the 
tax cut was. But by that time it was too late for him and too late for 
the American people, and Social Security is $639 billion less today in 
the trust fund, all because nobody wanted to tell the truth when they 
knew it.
  But these are not the only examples of not willing to tell the truth 
to the American people, and wanting to hold back information when they 
should have done what their instincts were, which was to leak. Remember 
when we had the terrorist report from the State Department and somebody 
actually had to doctor the data to say that in fact there was a decline 
in terrorism when all along they knew there was an increase in 
terrorism. And Secretary Powell had to come back with a new report, a 
fresh report to show what the actual data said originally, which was 
there was a rise in terrorism in the last number of years.
  Then there was the mercury report from the EPA which was doctored and 
played with, and they tried to doctor up; as the British like to say, 
they had to fix the data. Well, they had to go back and fix the data 
again and come back with the truth.
  But really who can blame this White House for not leaking? Karl Rove 
knows that if the American people knew the facts they would not support 
the policies of this administration. No, this White House is silent 
about everything it should leak and loose lipped about matters better 
kept secret. They actually have a bad case of having it all backwards.
  So next time when you see the truth, my recommendation, try leaking 
it.
  And I know the American people and particularly our military families 
would appreciate a White House leak today on our double secret plan to 
accomplish a mission in Iraq and bring our boys and girls home. I ask 
Karl Rove to share that next time with a reporter.
  Heck, we are still waiting for someone to leak the President's plan 
on Social Security. So I say do not stop here, Mr. Rove. Do not stop 
here, Mr. Libby. Dishing the names of our national security agents may 
be your idea of political, quote, fair game. But turn up that leaky 
faucet and tell us what we really need to know, which is the truth.

                          ____________________